U.S., South Korea Agree to Delay Troop Cut -Report Tue Oct 5, 2004 09:15 PM ET
SEOUL (Reuters) - The United States and South Korea plan to announce on Wednesday a three-year delay in plans to cut the number of U.S. troops stationed on the Cold War frontline to protect the U.S. ally against reclusive communist North Korea.
That delay would be until 2008, state television said.
South Korea's defense ministry is to hold a news briefing at 3.00 p.m. (2 a.m. EDT) on the result of talks between the United States and South Korea on the plans to cut troops, but declined to say if such an agreement on a delay had been reached.
The United States plans to pull out one third of its soldiers, or 12,500 troops, from South Korea as part of a global realignment of its forces.
"We will announce the results of the troop talks today, but I cannot confirm those reports over the timetable," said a defense ministry spokesman.
Washington and Seoul had agreed to delay the pullout, which the United States has wanted to wrap up by the end of 2005, KBS television said in an unsourced report.
It gave no reason for the delay but analysts have said the United States may have decided to accept a request from South Korea to delay the pullout to give Seoul more time to prepare its defenses against the North, which has thousands of missiles pointed at Seoul.
The two countries have said the reduction in U.S. troops in South Korea would not reduce their combined deterrence against the communist North, but Seoul has asked Washington to delay the move.
In a recent speech, South Korean President Roh Moo-hyun said a reduction in U.S. troops based in South Korea was both a challenge and an opportunity to enhance their alliance.
North Korea has the world's fifth-largest military with about 1.17 million troops on active duty, while the South has the world's sixth-largest with 691,000 active-duty soldiers, facing off along the most heavily fortified frontier on earth.
The two Koreas remain technically at war after the 1950-53 Korean conflict ended in a truce rather than a full peace treaty.
The threat from North Korea has been intensified by its statements that it is developing a nuclear arsenal and six-way talks involving the two Koreas, the United States, China, Japan, and Russia over its ambitions have now stalled.
The parties to talks aimed at ending a two-year impasse over its nuclear programs failed to hold a planned fourth round of negotiations in September.
The North is being urged to scrap all its nuclear programs in exchange for security guarantees and energy aid.
China to strengthen 2.5 million semi-military in Xinjiang
This will put 2.5 million Chinese semi-military troops up against the borders of Afghanistan and Pakistan.
With Pakistan offering port facilities to China the military buildup in Xinjiang puts China at both ends of Pakistan. #msg-4228949
The offering of the port facilities is supposedly for the benefit of the Xinjiang Uyger autonomous region of China. This could be a means by which the United States and Pakistan aid the Uighur separatists of Xinjiang in their efforts to break away from China. China has protested the establishment of a Uighur Government-in-Exile in Washington. #msg-4098311
OR
If this is for the benefit of the whole of China this would put the Chinese, albeit non-military vessels, next to Iran’s shipping lane the Strait of Hormuz. If the Chinese have access to these ports in time their military vessels will probably visit. The Chinese have a considerable investment in Iran’s oil and gas. Bush plans on attacking Iran by choking the Strait of Hormuz.
While this may change, an amphibious attack was originally targeted against Iran from the Arabian Sea, with a provocative US blockade in the Gulf of Oman to choke Iran’s sealanes of communications. Pakistan would be the base for mounting massive air reconnaissance and surveillance of Iran, while Iranian dissidents, backed by the US army, would launch land assaults from the Iraq-Iran border. Diplomatic sources say, the main body of the plan would remain the same, although component tactics could change. http://www.thedailystar.net/2004/07/03/d40703100483.htm
BEIJING: A top military official has urged the strengthening of China’s 2.5 million semi-military presence in the westernmost Xinjiang region to combat separatism and attempts at “sabotage and infiltration,” state press reported on Friday.
Zhang Qingli, commander-in-chief of the Xinjiang Production and Construction Corp, an offshoot of the People’s Liberation Army that was established in the ethnic Uighur-dominated region 50 years ago to ensure Chinese rule, made the call. “The corps should not be weakened but be enlarged in the new era with the main task to develop the economy, maintain the stability of Xinjiang, promote unity among ethnic groups and consolidate border defence,” Zhang was quoted by Xinhua news agency as saying.
Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao vowed during a recent visit to Xinjiang to reinforce the role of the corp for similar reasons, the report said. The 2.54-million strong corp staffs 186 regimental farms and more than 1,500 industrial, construction, transport and commercial enterprises in Xinjiang, Xinhua said. It does not form a part of China’s 2.5-million-strong People’s Liberation Army, the world’s largest standing army.
Nonetheless it “plays an irreplaceable role in smashing and resisting internal and external attempts at sabotage and infiltration, and maintains the stability and safety of the borders of the country,” Xinhua said.
The corp has also played a role in “a recent battle against the so-called ‘Eastern Turkistan’ terrorist group,” it said. The Muslim group has long called for the establishment of an independent area in the region called East Turkestan. afp
North Korea denounces US delay in troop cut in South
It should be noted the agreement to delay the troop cut in South Korea was announced approximately at the same time China reportedly moved over 30,000 troops near the North Korean border.
-Am
North Korea denounces US delay in troop cut in South
SEOUL (AFP) Oct 17, 2004 North Korea on Sunday accused the United States of unveiling its scheme to invade the communist state by delaying a deadline for planned US troop reductions in South Korea. The United States announced earlier this month that the deadline for withdrawing 12,500 troops, one third of its forces in South Korea, would be pushed back by three years until 2008 because of Seoul's security fears.
Washington also scrapped plans for the pullout of key military equipment targeting North Korea's heavy artillery.
"The announcement clearly proves that the US farce to cut down its forces in South Korea was nothing but a trick to cover up its arms buildup for invasion of the DPRK (North Korea)," Minju Joson, the North's cabinet newspaper, said in a commentary.
The Pentagon has recently reinforced its navy and air force power in and around the Korean peninsula as part of its 11 billion dollar arms buildup aimed at offsetting the planned troop cut.
But Washington has denied having intentions to invade North Korea.
The US troop reduction on the Korean peninsula is part of Washington's global troop redeployment plan to bring home 70,000 American troops from Europe and Asia to better cope with "war on terror" or new threats.
But some South Koreans express concerns about a possible security gap from the abrupt withdrawal of US troops, who have played a key role in deterring any attack from North Korea since the 1950-53 Korean War.
North Korea has recently been locked in a standoff with the United States over suspected nuclear weapons programs in the communist state.
Note: China has reportedly moved over 30,000 troops near the North Korean border and means to claim North Korean territory through the distortion of history. #msg-4235085 #msg-3837691
-Am
Updated Oct.19,2004 17:56 KST
If the North Korean system collapses or a coup d'etat takes place in the North, South Korea will naturally fill the gap. This is an illusion. An opening of room for unification won't necessarily mean a unification of the two Koreas.
Though it has not been played up in the media in the absence of confirming its authenticity, an article appearing in the Internet recently stirred up ripples. Written by an anonymous person, the story is said to have rearranged a lecture given by a professor of politics at Beijing University, which plays the role of academic adviser to the Chinese government. Its gist is as follows.
"The North Korean regime cannot survive more than 10 years. If a pro-Chinese military faction grasps power following a collapse of the regime, China intends to incorporate North Korea into its military federation and eventually make it a subordinate state. The Northeast Asia Project now in progress is aimed at accumulating a historical basis for it...“
The article appears to have shocked netizens. Each portal site has recorded it as a mostly-read story and attracted hundreds of comments. A concern that China or any other neighboring power will keep an eye on North Korean territory when the Korean Peninsula is about to be unified or when the North Korean regime collapses is common sense to those who have studied international politics or law.
"China intends to assert preemptive rights to the North Korean region following a collapse of North Korea." "China schemes to assert vested interests in North Korean territory." A few scholars have long made these contentions, Professor Song Ki-ho of Seoul National University among them. Furthermore, those concerned about Japan's right-wing views of history make this contention: "If Korea-Japan relationship deteriorates or South Korea's strength weakens, Japan may come up with a claim that Japan has preemptive rights to a southern portion of the Korean peninsula."
Our constitution prescribes North Korean territory as that of the Republic of Korea. In the international community, however, this is nothing but wishful thinking of ours. If one trusts that China, Japan, Russia and the United States, when circumstances develop in favor of a reunification of the two Koreas, would stand by seeing the two Koreas unified, he or she is naive indeed. Legally, China can dispatch its troops to North Korea if and when the South advances into North Korean territory, making use of the automatic intervention clause of the North Korea-China Friendship, Cooperation and Mutual Assistance Treaty. North Korea is a territory that China, Japan, the U.S. and Russia are reluctant to just leave alone.
National security calls for preparedness against even a 1 percent possibility. The possibility of such a development far exceeds one percent. We might encounter little problems if we are strong enough to exclude the four superpowers. Under the current circumstances in which the political leadership pledges "independent defense in words only," that wouldn't be easy to achieve in a decade. If so, we must make a certain country with solid capabilities a friend of ours and make use of it. Among the four superpowers surrounding the Korean peninsula, it is only the United States that has such strength and with which we have had friendly relations.
Until a few years ago, we expected that the U.S. would stand on our side under such a situation. Many harbor doubts about it today, though. Even some scholars assigned to public agencies are concerned, saying, "Even for the sake of restraining China, we have to strengthen our alliance with the United States." An official involved in the six-country talks observed, "With Seoul moving further from the United States, other participants do not seem to pay attention to statements South Korea makes like they used to."
The strong United States, which shares with us values like the market economy and democracy, and has gotten along well with historically with few territorial ambitions on the Korean Peninsula, is a useful tool in blocking Chinese greed and preparing for unification. Those who condemn the good use of such a nation as "idolization" are the real anti-Korean, anti-unification forces. (Kwon Dae-yul, dykwon@chosun.com )
China has already reportedly moved over 30,000 troops near the North Korean border. #msg-4235085
-Am
From correspondents in Beijing November 25, 2004
CHINA yesterday denied media reports of a Chinese troop buildup along its border with North Korea and said all was well in the isolated communist state despite speculation about leader Kim Jong-il's hold on power.
A South Korea newspaper quoted sources in Washington saying satellite photos showed 10,000 Chinese troops preparing for deployment along the border and speculated they could be preparing in case of sudden political change in the North.
Deputy Foreign Minister Wu Dawei said: "Such reports are completely groundless. After reading these people will think it's true and this is extremely dangerous."
Mr Wu, who is also China's lead negotiator for six-party talks aimed at resolving a dispute over North Korea's nuclear weapons program, said he had recently been in the North and seen nothing out of the ordinary.
"The political situation is stable, the economy is developing. The leaders are engaged in reforms of the economy and living standards are improving considerably compared to before," he said.
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