South Korean reaction mixed over American troop pullout plan

SEOUL, South Korea -- Just two years ago, chants of "Murderous American GIs!" reverberated through the streets of Seoul at huge anti-U.S. rallies. But now that many U.S. soldiers may be leaving, the mood is far from celebratory.

Lawmakers are worried about a possible security vacuum along the Cold War's last frontier and the need for bigger defense budgets as North Korea develops nuclear weapons. Thousands working at or near U.S. bases are concerned about their jobs. Some say the plan is unfolding too fast, while others complain it's long overdue.

North Korea, which routinely demands a total U.S. pullout, seems almost alone in its silence about Washington's plan to withdraw a third of its 37,500 soldiers stationed here by 2006.

"Watching the recent developments regarding the matter, one has to worry," the JoongAng Daily newspaper said in summarizing South Korea's national mood.

Pulling out the soldiers advances the Pentagon's goal of making its forces more flexible. But it also poses a new test to an alliance that has helped underpin U.S. policy in the region since the 1950-53 Korean War.

Washington and Seoul say more negotiations are needed before anything is finalized.

Talk of troop levels is touchy in South Korea.

Older Koreans traditionally embrace American soldiers for helping repel the communist invasion a half-century ago and see the remaining troops as insurance against a repeat.

Younger generations, by contrast, often view the troops as an unnecessary burden or a slight to national pride.

A majority of South Koreans favor the presence, but many want the pact with Washington revised to give Seoul greater jurisdiction over the troops, especially those implicated in crimes.

In 2002, tens of thousands of South Koreans joined protests to condemn the U.S. military after the deaths of two South Korean girls struck by an American armored vehicle.

"I support the withdrawal because there have been a lot of problems involving U.S. soldiers here, and their image isn't so good," said 23-year-old office worker Park Sun-mi.

Some 18,000 civilians employed by the U.S. military see things differently.

Up to 40 percent of those jobs will be threatened by the proposed pullout, said Kang In-suk, head of the U.S. Forces Korea Korean Employees' Union. The union is planning a rally June 24 in protest.

"It is beyond me how the two governments can discuss this issue without considering the Korean military employees and other Korean people involved," Kang said.

Others are leery of a pullout because they suspect the United States will feel freer to attack the North if U.S. troops have been withdrawn or are not in immediate harm's way. U.S. officials deny such intentions.

The plan, unveiled this week, calls for removing 12,500 soldiers by the end of 2005. It would be the largest withdrawal from the divided Korean Peninsula since the 1970s, when about 20,000 were taken out as a gesture of detente toward Moscow and Beijing.

Plans for another downsizing of 6,000 troops were frozen in 1991 by then-Defense Secretary Dick Cheney over concerns about North Korea's nuclear program.

Troop levels have remained roughly stable since. But the issue resurfaced amid the mounting need for more U.S. troops in Iraq.

North Korea has a formidable missile arsenal and 1.1 million soldiers, compared with the South's 650,000, but it is also said to have fuel shortages and decrepit military hardware.

In talks that have gained urgency for the South, colonels of the two countries' militaries met Friday for a second day of discussions to flesh out details of an accord struck last week. That agreement sets a standard radio frequency and signaling system for their navies to avoid confusion that could lead to sea clashes. They also agreed to end propaganda along their land border.

Citing a 10-year plan launched by Seoul last year, Kim Choong Nam, a Korea specialist at the East-West Center in Honolulu, said South Korea expected a U.S. pullout in phases, not a timeline of 18 months.

The United States has earmarked $11 billion for military upgrades on the peninsula in the next five years.

Kim estimated Seoul would have to spend as much as $100 billion "to fill the gap" and wondered whether its economy, the world's 12th-largest but recovering from a slowdown, could bear the weight.

On Friday, South Korea's Defense Ministry asked for a 13.4 percent increase in military spending to $18.3 billion next year, saying it needs to compensate for the U.S. reductions.

A further budgetary strain is Seoul's plan to dispatch 3,600 South Korean troops to northern Iraq to help the U.S.-led coalition in peacekeeping and reconstruction.

The proposed U.S. troop pullout coincides with separate plans to move American soldiers from positions near North Korea and consolidate them at a few bases south of the capital.

By October, the military plans to pull almost all its soldiers from the last U.S. positions on the Demilitarized Zone diving the Koreas, although thousands will remain dug in between the border and Seoul.

"I think South Korea's at a point where it can defend itself," said U.S. Army Pfc. Ronald J. Cole, who is stationed at the truce village of Panmunjom in the middle of the DMZ. "I think we can be better used in other places like Afghanistan and Iraq."