Posted on: Thursday, February 20, 2003

EDITORIAL
Troop reduction talks in South Korea ill-timed

In a development that is taking a very high profile in South Korea but not the United States, the two countries have scheduled talks, to begin in April, on "reduction and repositioning" of U.S. troops stationed on the peninsula.

The suggestion is that ground troops, which make up the bulk of the 37,000 U.S. personnel now stationed in South Korea, would be reduced in number and pulled back south of the Han River. Naval and air forces in turn would be increased.

The repositioning would largely remove American forces from the "tripwire" role in which they have served since the Korean armistice in 1953.

The talks make sense within the context of South Korean impatience with the presence of U.S. troops stemming from such incidents as the deaths of two South Korean teenage girls who were struck and killed by a U.S. military armored vehicle. Two soldiers were acquitted of negligent homicide charges in U.S. military court, triggering weeks of anti-American street rallies.

But the talks seem wildly ill-timed in relation to the crisis that has erupted over North Korea's efforts to begin production of nuclear weapons.

South Korean politicians have attempted to downplay the seriousness of this provocation by the North, but they are motivated by compelling domestic considerations: The "sunshine policy" that brought a Nobel Peace Prize to outgoing President Kim Dae-jung is collapsing in a scandal that included secret payment of hundreds of millions of dollars to Pyongyang.

The prospective buildup of U.S. air and naval forces, meanwhile, suggests an intention to change the American presence from a tactical peninsular factor to a strategic regional presence. It is believed that the Chinese, suspecting this different presence would exist to help "contain" their ambitions, are showing their displeasure by refusing to lean on the North Koreans to comply with their international nuclear obligations.

The Bush administration should postpone the reduction and repositioning talks until it resolves, one way or the other, the nuclear provocations ongoing in the North. As we have said before, this a priority that, if necessary, should take precedence over the looming war in Iraq.