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Trump and Bolton deny NY Times report concerning reduction in US Forces Korea
US President Donald Trump and White House National Security Advisor John Bolton both denied a New York Times report claiming Trump ordered the review of a possible reduction in US Forces Korea numbers.
Prior to leaving for a National Rifle Association (NRA) event in Dallas, Trump fielded questions from reporters at the White House on May 4 on whether the USFK troop reduction issue would be on the table at the upcoming North Korea-US summit and whether the US has plans to withdraw USFK.
“No. No. And we haven’t been asked to [withdraw],” Trump replied.
“Troops are not the table,” Trump reiterated.
His remarks were a direct denial of speculation in some quarters that the USFK troop reduction issue would be addressed in some manner at the North Korea-US summit.
But Trump’s real attitude was evident in his subsequent comments.
“I would like to save the money. You know, we have 32,000 troops there [in South Korea],” he said. His remarks were interpreted as indicating that while he does not intend to make a USFK withdrawal of reduction part of the agenda for the first-ever North Korea-US summit – which is expected to take place in early June – he also hopes to win major concessions in current USFK defense cost sharing talks with Seoul.
South Korea and the US have begun their tenth negotiations on the defense cost sharing arrangement to go into effect as of Mar. 2019. The ninth round, which was concluded in Jan. 2014, resulted in a 5.8% increase in South Korea’s share from 869.5 billion won (US$809.5 million) in 2013. Pressure from the US government to obtain a larger share from Seoul is expected to intensify.
Bolton also actively disputed the New York Times report.
Bolton calls NY Times story “utter nonsense”
“The New York Times story is utter nonsense. The President has not asked the Pentagon to provide options for reducing American forces stationed in South Korea,” Bolton said that day through the White House.
In a press release on the recent meeting between Bolton and Blue House National Security Office director Chung Eui-yong, the White House said the two had “reaffirmed that there are no plans to change the United States–Republic of Korea bilateral defense posture in the Republic of Korea.”
The US administration’s rush to quiet speculation about possible USFK reductions appeared motivated by concerns that the issue could come across as suggesting a rift in the South Korea-US alliance ahead of the North Korea-US summit.
On May 4, the New York Times reported that Trump had ordered the Pentagon to report on options concerning USFK reductions. In terms of nuance, the report suggested Trump might be willing to make concessions to Pyongyang in connection with the USFK withdrawal or reduction issue. As a result, some analysts interpreted the report as an attempt by the US mainstream society to throw the brakes on the North-Korea US summit. Located just 1,000km from the Chinese capital Beijing, the USFK bases in Pyeongtaek and Osan are seen as having very high strategic value from the US’s standpoint.
Meanwhile, Japan’s Yomiuri Shinmun newspaper published a May 5 report citing multiple US-Japan relations sources as claiming Trump had asked Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe for his views on the potential influences of a USFK withdrawal or reduction during the two leaders’ Apr. 17–18 summit at the Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida. Abe reportedly voiced his objections, citing concerns that withdrawing or reducing USFK could disrupt the military balance in East Asia.
By Yi Yong-in, Washington correspondent, and Cho Ki-weon, Tokyo correspondent
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