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highplainsdem

(48,731 posts)
Thu May 3, 2018, 11:12 PM May 2018

Trump Orders Pentagon to Consider Reducing U.S. Forces in South Korea

Source: NYT

President Trump has ordered the Pentagon to prepare options for drawing down American troops in South Korea, just weeks before he holds a landmark meeting with North Korea’s leader, Kim Jong-un, according to several people briefed on the deliberations.

Reduced troop levels are not intended to be a bargaining chip in Mr. Trump’s talks with Mr. Kim about his weapons program, these officials said. But they acknowledged that a peace treaty between the two Koreas could diminish the need for the 28,500 soldiers currently stationed on the peninsula.

Mr. Trump has been determined to withdraw troops from South Korea, arguing that the United States is not adequately compensated for the cost of maintaining them, that the troops are mainly protecting Japan and that decades of American military presence had not prevented the North from becoming a nuclear threat.

His latest push coincides with tense negotiations with South Korea over how to share the cost of the military force. Under an agreement that expires at the end of 2018, South Korea pays about half the cost of the upkeep of the soldiers — more than $800 million a year. The Trump administration is demanding that it pay for virtually the entire cost of the military presence.

-snip-

Read more: https://www.nytimes.com/2018/05/03/world/asia/trump-troops-south-korea.html



The article goes on to say that Trump's directive "has rattled officials at the Pentagon and other agencies."
16 replies = new reply since forum marked as read
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Trump Orders Pentagon to Consider Reducing U.S. Forces in South Korea (Original Post) highplainsdem May 2018 OP
Trump is an idiot and he's a danger to the world. procon May 2018 #1
I think you already know, and I speculate he is doing the bidding for Russia and China still_one May 2018 #2
I second that motion...............and he is also traitor turbinetree May 2018 #3
These troops, and more..... SergeStorms May 2018 #9
Let's be very honest. Wellstone ruled May 2018 #4
Are they returning for the parade ? rickford66 May 2018 #5
We have seen this before jmowreader May 2018 #6
A broken clock is right twice a day gyroscope May 2018 #7
Agreed, weird to see people here on DU suddenly becoming pro-military instead ansible May 2018 #10
Don't forget that Bolton was brought in there BumRushDaShow May 2018 #12
Good point gyroscope May 2018 #14
Exactly. BumRushDaShow May 2018 #15
UPDATE: And that other shoe (Bolton) just dropped! BumRushDaShow May 2018 #16
I suppose you're forgetting what happened there in the early 50's paleotn May 2018 #13
We can trust Rocketman as much as we can trust the word of Dotard Donald. keithbvadu2 May 2018 #8
Never tell them you're going to leave, dRumpfie. Mc Mike May 2018 #11

turbinetree

(24,632 posts)
3. I second that motion...............and he is also traitor
Thu May 3, 2018, 11:19 PM
May 2018

he doesn't know how to think unless he can try to defraud someone or thing to his benefit, to hell with everything else, it is always about him and his burned out ego, and his babbling of BS

SergeStorms

(18,903 posts)
9. These troops, and more.....
Fri May 4, 2018, 03:29 AM
May 2018

will be needed for Trump's future wars with Iran, Syria, and who knows what other countries. Let's never forget who Trump's Secretary of State and National Security Advisor are. This terrible troika are more than willing to fulfill Trump's wish to be a "wartime" president.

 

Wellstone ruled

(34,661 posts)
4. Let's be very honest.
Thu May 3, 2018, 11:22 PM
May 2018

Donnie the Dipstick is getting his marching orders from Vlad. Someone needs to draw this Idiot a picture of what happened in 1953 . You just can not fix Stupid.

jmowreader

(50,453 posts)
6. We have seen this before
Fri May 4, 2018, 12:30 AM
May 2018
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paris_Peace_Accords

The result of Kissinger's and Nixon's antics in Paris was permanent communist control of all Vietnam. Trump is going to do the same fucking thing in Korea, but it'll be worse because South Korea is such a large player in the modern world economy.

And in case you were wondering, the Vietnam War was about rubber.
 

gyroscope

(1,443 posts)
7. A broken clock is right twice a day
Fri May 4, 2018, 12:48 AM
May 2018

It's not our job to police the world. Makes no sense to keep US troops stationed with the war officially ended, relations between the two koreas are warming, and NK keeps its promise to denuclearize.

Having a large US troop presence in the south probably did more to increase tensions with the north than lessen it, while giving the north a motive to militarize.

 

ansible

(1,718 posts)
10. Agreed, weird to see people here on DU suddenly becoming pro-military instead
Fri May 4, 2018, 03:43 AM
May 2018

Yes, Trump's an idiot but that doesn't mean we have to disagree completely on everything he does, just for the sake of it.

BumRushDaShow

(127,317 posts)
12. Don't forget that Bolton was brought in there
Fri May 4, 2018, 06:23 AM
May 2018

Yes the same Bolton who developed this - https://web.archive.org/web/20131019051350/http://www.newamericancentury.org/RebuildingAmericasDefenses.pdf

So don't go by what he says but by what he does. It's weird to see people on DU focusing on the superficial slight-of-hand rhetoric from a known liar and not looking at what is going on behind the curtain.

 

gyroscope

(1,443 posts)
14. Good point
Fri May 4, 2018, 07:50 AM
May 2018

can never trust someone like Bolton. The evil orange could be trying to make himself look like a champion of peace in regard to Korea while using the evil mustache to secretly undermine the peace process. why else would he bring in a warmonger like Bolton.


Will John Bolton sabotage peace in Korea?

http://theweek.com/articles/770704/john-bolton-sabotage-peace-korea

BumRushDaShow

(127,317 posts)
15. Exactly.
Fri May 4, 2018, 08:30 AM
May 2018

And I do agree that we need to get the hell out of the neocon "policing the world" business. But with the recent Russian oligarch mob moves, the world just got a bit more dangerous in terms of us going from a "cold war" to a "lukewarm" war. And if they can't get us with a "bloodless coup" (which is apparently what it seems is going on here), then they will find another way since they already made significant inroads here that they probably never expected to achieve. It's a perfect storm.

paleotn

(17,781 posts)
13. I suppose you're forgetting what happened there in the early 50's
Fri May 4, 2018, 07:36 AM
May 2018

or that the DMZ is the most militarized and dangerous strip of dirt on the planet. Our people are there for a damn good reason. Telegraphing troop reductions before an agreement is even made is stupid and dangerous. There could very well be no agreement. The whole thing could be yet another NK ruse. It's a Chamberlain type move. It's that bad.

Your opinion of DU is rather simplistic. Maybe if your tenure was longer, you'd see that there is a rather wide body of opinion here, compared to the lock step bullshit on the right.

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