U.S. Says Its Troops Will Remain in South Korea

Senior U.S. and South Korean officials said Friday that they have no intention of withdrawing any of the 37,000 American troops stationed on the divided Korean peninsula, despite the improved prospects for lasting peace in the region.

But in a sign of the continued thaw on the world’s last major Cold War frontier, Secretary of State Madeleine Albright hinted that she may meet with North Korea’s foreign minister at an Asia security conference next month.

“I am open” to meeting with Foreign Minister Paek Nam Sun, Albright said. “I meet with lots of people. Stay tuned.”

As part of a broad diplomatic offensive to gain wider acceptance in the outside world, North Korea is expected to join a subgroup of the Assn. of Southeast Asian Nations during the organization’s annual ministerial forum July 27 in Bangkok, Thailand. Both Paek and Albright will attend.

If Albright meets with her North Korean counterpart, it would be the first face-to-face contact between top U.S. and North Korean government officials. Former Defense Secretary William J. Perry visited Pyongyang, the North’s capital, last year, but North Korea has yet to fulfill its promise to Perry to send a senior delegation to Washington.

Albright arrived here Friday from Beijing for detailed briefings from South Korean President Kim Dae Jung and Foreign Minister Lee Joung Binn on Kim’s historic summit earlier this month with North Korean leader Kim Jong Il.

At a joint news conference later with Lee, Albright called the Korean leaders’ summit--the first since the fratricidal Korean War exploded 50 years ago this Sunday--a “bold first step toward a brighter future.”

But Albright said the successful session clearly did not end the tense standoff involving the more than 1.9 million troops on the peninsula, facing off across the world’s most heavily armed border. She insisted that the move toward reconciliation provided no reason to withdraw U.S. forces, given North Korean efforts to develop nuclear weapons and missiles.

“Any discussion of lowering the number of troops is not appropriate and [is] premature,” Albright said.

She said U.S. forces provided a necessary deterrent to aggression and helped stabilize the region. “We don’t put a time limit on our responsibilities or [on] pursuing our national interests,” Albright said.

South Korea’s foreign minister agreed. Even if peace ensues, Lee said, “the American forces will continue to play the role of the guarantor of the balance of power and a stabilizing force in this part of the world.”

Despite the united front, the unexpected easing of tensions may force Seoul and Washington to redefine key elements of a relationship forged in war and grounded in antipathy toward a mutual foe.

The summit came amid protests against the presence of U.S. troops in South Korea, and local reporters repeatedly demanded that Albright and Lee explain why American military forces are still needed there.

Similar questions are being asked in Washington, where defense experts and security analysts have begun to consider whether the improved prospects for peace should lead to a restructuring of U.S. forces deployed in Northeast Asia.

Among other issues, a peace on the peninsula--where a truce has been in place since the 1950-53 Korean War--challenges basic Pentagon strategy of needing the manpower, weapons and funding to fight two wars simultaneously, such as here and in the Persian Gulf region.

In addition, a Korean reconciliation would undermine arguments that the United States needs to erect a national missile defense system to protect against limited missile attacks. North Korea’s ballistic missile program has been cited as a chief rationale for building such a shield.

President Clinton faces a crucial decision this autumn on whether to begin the first phase of the proposed system. But signs of easing hostilities here have added to wariness at the White House, where aides fear that construction of the system could cause heavy diplomatic and political fallout at home and abroad.

In response to questions here, neither Albright nor Lee gave a ringing endorsement of the proposed antimissile system.

Albright noted that Pyongyang has suspended flight testing of long-range missiles and said she expects a resumption of stalled talks aimed at halting North Korea’s missile program. “But not all issues have been resolved,” she added.

For his part, Lee blamed North Korea for triggering U.S. concerns. “What would be most important now is joint international effort to deter missile development” in North Korea, he added.