The United States is considering pulling out a considerable chunk of its military personnel from South Korea if the Asian country refuses to increase spending on maintenance military bases by five times, Chosun Ilbo reported on Thursday
MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 21st November, 2019) The United States is considering pulling out a considerable chunk of its military personnel from South Korea if the Asian country refuses to increase spending on maintenance military bases by five times, Chosun Ilbo reported on Thursday.
"The US is preparing to withdraw one brigade if negotiations with South Korea do not progress according to President Donald Trump's hopes," a diplomatic Washington source told the South Korean newspaper.
The report comes days after talks on defense cooperation between the US and South Korea were cut short for unspecified reasons, with neither side making any official comment on the matter.
The diplomatic source added that Trump may be looking for an excuse to pull US troops as part of a retrenchment of global domination.
Earlier reports suggested that the US has been waging a pressure campaign to force South Korea and Japan to increase expenditures on upkeep of military bases by up to 500 percent. In June, US conservative hawk John Bolton visited the two allies while still serving as national security adviser, with reports claiming his demands were refused by both nations.
The US army maintain over 28,000 troops in South Korea and is obliged by law to keep at least 22,000 on the peninsula at all times, which means some 6,000 soldiers may be withdrawn from bases.
