South Korea’s defence ministry said on Friday that there had been no talks with Washington on pulling US troops from the South after a Wall Street Journal report claimed that Washington was considering a partial withdrawal.
Citing US defence officials, the WSJ report said Washington is considering whether to move around 4,500 troops out of South Korea and deploy them to other locations, including Guam.
Washington, South Korea’s long-time key security ally, stations around 28,500 troops in the South to help protect it against the nuclear-armed North Korea.
But US President Donald Trump said last year — before winning the election — that if he returned to the White House, Seoul would pay billions more annually to host American troops.
When asked about the WSJ report, Seoul’s defence ministry said: “There has been no discussion whatsoever between South Korea and the United States regarding the withdrawal of the United States Forces Korea”.
The allies last year signed a new five-year agreement on sharing the cost of stationing US troops in South Korea, with Seoul agreeing to raise its contribution by 8.3 percent to 1.52 trillion won ($1.1 billion) for 2026.
“US Forces Korea have served as a key component of the South Korea-US alliance, maintaining a strong combined defence posture with our military to deter North Korean aggression and provocations,” Seoul’s defence ministry said, adding this contributed to “peace and stability on the Korean Peninsula and in the region.”
“We will continue close cooperation with the US to further strengthen this role going forward.”
United States Forces Korea declined to comment when contacted by AFP, saying any remarks on the matter should come from Washington.
North Korea Launches Probe
North Korea has begun an investigation into an accident that occurred during the launch of a new warship this week, state media said Friday, assessing the damage as “not serious”.
North Korea said Thursday that “a serious accident occurred” at the Wednesday launch ceremony for the newly built 5,000-ton naval destroyer, in which sections of the bottom of the vessel were crushed — with leader Kim Jong Un calling the mishap a “criminal act”.
South Korea’s military said US and Seoul intelligence authorities assessed that North Korea’s “side-launch attempt” of the ship failed, and the vessel was left listing in the water.
The North’s official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA), however, said Friday that an “underwater and internal inspection of the warship confirmed that, unlike the initial announcement, there were no holes made at the warship’s bottom”.
“The hull starboard was scratched and a certain amount of seawater flowed into the stern section through the rescue channel,” according to KCNA.
The extent of damage to the vessel was “not serious”, it said, adding it was “necessary to make clear the cause of the accident”.
The North on Thursday had blamed “inexperienced command and operational carelessness” for the destroyer’s botched launch, which was observed by Kim, who called it a “criminal act caused by absolute carelessness”.
KCNA said on Friday that Hong Kil Ho, the manager of the shipyard in the eastern port city of Chongjin where the accident took place, was summoned by law enforcement on Thursday.
The report said experts estimated it would take “two or three days to keep the balance of the warship by pumping up the seawater from the flooded chamber.”
It would take around 10 days to restore the destroyer’s side, it added.
Based on its size and scale, the South Korean military said the newly built warship is believed to be similarly equipped to the 5,000-ton destroyer-class vessel, Choe Hyon, which North Korea unveiled last month.
North Korea has claimed the Choe Hyon was equipped with the “most powerful weapons”, and that it would “enter into operation early next year”.
Seoul’s military has said the Choe Hyon could have been developed with Russian help — possibly in exchange for Pyongyang deploying thousands of troops to help Moscow fight Ukraine.
Analysts say the warship involved in Wednesday’s accident may have also been constructed with Russian assistance.
© Agence France-Presse
