U.S. to Cut Troops 10% in Japan, S. Korea : Military: Waning tensions with the Soviets make more reductions possible, the White House tells Congress.

The Bush Administration has notified congressional leaders of plans to withdraw 10% of the 100,000 U.S. troops stationed in Japan and South Korea and to consider more reductions if U.S.-Soviet tensions continue to wane.

The cutbacks, outlined in a still-secret report that offers a broad reassessment of military strategy in the Pacific, will result in only modest short-term savings in the defense budget, perhaps less than $2 billion a year, officials familiar with the report said.

The study emphasizes that threats to U.S. economic and political interests in the Pacific remain despite revolutionary changes elsewhere in the world.

Sens. Sam Nunn (D-Ga.) and John W. Warner (R-Va.), the chairman and ranking Republican on the Senate Armed Services Committee, ordered the study last year in response to critics who wanted rapid and deep cuts in U.S. forces in Asia in the wake of a declining Soviet menace.

However, the report says that as the direct Soviet threat recedes, North Korea remains a backward, Communist-run state that threatens South Korea and U.S interests there. It notes that the nations of Southeast Asia are unstable and potentially threatening and that terrorists could strike U.S. military or economic targets anywhere in the region.

The report also argues that substantial U.S. air and sea power will be required for the indefinite future to guard sea lanes in the region because a huge proportion of global commerce travels to and from the rapidly industrializing nations there.

With sentiment in Congress still strong for substantial defense cutbacks around the globe, the proposed retrenchments are expected to be criticized for not going far enough. A number of Democratic lawmakers have complained loudly that Washington is paying billions of dollars annually to defend rapidly growing Asian nations that are running large trade surpluses with America.

Defense Secretary Dick Cheney last week informed Nunn and Warner that the Pentagon would not be able to meet Congress’ deadline for the study, which was last Sunday. But Undersecretary of Defense Paul D. Wolfowitz briefed the senators on its conclusions in a closed meeting Friday.

The report, prepared after Cheney’s discussions with Asian allies during a two-week swing through the region in February, is awaiting formal approval by Cheney and President Bush before the Administration submits it to Congress. Cheney is tentatively scheduled to present it to the Senate Armed Services Committee on April 19.

The study reaffirms the U.S. military commitment to the area, but it says Japan and South Korea are capable of assuming a far greater share of their own and the region’s defense burdens.

During his February trip, Cheney told South Korean officials that the United States expects Seoul to double its $300 million annual contribution to the $2.4 billion cost of maintaining 44,000 U.S. troops there. South Korean Defense Minister Lee Sang Hoon promised to increase his nation’s share of the costs “within the limits of (South Korea’s) ability and affordability.”

Cheney and Japanese officials discussed a substantial increase in Japan’s share of the $7 billion annual cost of stationing 57,000 U.S. forces in Japan and Okinawa, but they did not discuss specific figures. Japan pledged to pick up more of the tab for utilities, construction and local labor on U.S. bases.

The study is expected to note the strategic importance of large U.S. naval and air bases in the Philippines but also to suggest that they are replaceable elsewhere in the region if talks over renewal of base rights break down.