South Korea troop cut speculation grows

Bloomberg

Cracks may be emerging in the so-called ironclad military alliance between South Korea and the US, stoking worries in Seoul that the Trump administration is looking at withdrawing troops from the peninsula.
Defense Secretary Mark Esper isn’t ruling out reductions to US Forces in Korea, telling a forum that, while no order has been given, the administration was looking to adjust its posture globally.
He was responding to a July 17 report in the Wall Street Journal saying that the Pentagon had given President Donald Trump options to draw down troops amid a deadlock over the US’s demands for more funding.
While Trump has complained about open-ended US military commitments since before taking office, the threat of a withdrawal has increased since his decision last month to reduce the country’s military footprint in Germany.
South Korean President Moon Jae-in’s government has said little about a troop cut if the two sides can’t renew their expired Special Measures Agreement, but some worry the discussion could signal weakness to neighbouring North Korea and China.
“The alliance is a matter of survival to South Korea,” said retired South Korean Major General Kim Joong-ro.
“Of course, Washington’s SMA demands are overwhelming, but this shouldn’t hurt the alliance itself. There is no such thing called a ‘second chance’ in security.”
Trump has asked South Korea contribute about $5 billion for hosting some 28,500 American military personnel, well above the current one-year deal where Seoul pays about $1 billion.
The price tag originated with the White House, according to people familiar with the matter, and has been a non-starter in South Korea with both the progressive ruling bloc and the conservative opposition seeing it as exorbitant.
“I’ve issued no orders to withdraw forces from the Korean Peninsula,” Esper said in an internet discussion, but he wouldn’t say if that meant a future cut in South Korea.
The troops were intended to provide a frontline defense against North Korea and potentially China. The rumblings come as North Korea has said it sees no point in having nuclear negotiations now with Washington and raised tensions with its neighbor South Korea by blowing up in June a joint liaison
office located just north of their border.