The Pentagon said Friday it is not considering withdrawing thousands of troops from South Korea, calling its alliance with the country “iron clad.”
The Wall Street Journal reported Thursday that the Pentagon was mulling the redistribution of some 4,500 U.S. troops to other areas in the Indo-Pacific region, including Guam. The Journal reported the idea was floated as part of an informal policy review on dealing with North Korea.
“Not true,” chief Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell said in a post to X on Friday.
The U.S. currently has 28,500 troops stationed in South Korea. The country’s defense ministry said Friday that there had been no discussions with the U.S. about a troop reduction.
“Anyone who’s covered the Pentagon knows that we always evaluate force posture. That said, the U. S. remains firmly committed to the ROK. Our alliance is iron clad,” Parnell said in the post.
Seoul and Washington agreed on a five-year plan on defense cost sharing last year but President Donald Trump has signaled that the cost of the U.S. military presence could be up for discussion in ongoing trade negotiations with Seoul.
“We pay for U.S. military in Europe, and we don’t get reimbursed by much. South Korea, too,” Trump told reporters at the White House last month, The Hill reported.
South Korean officials have so far maintained the position that defense costs are a separate matter from the trade talks.
Information from Reuters was used in this report.
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