SOUTH KOREA: SOUTH KOREA AND THE UNITED STATES HAVE COMMEMORATED THE 50TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE MUTUAL DEFENCE TREATY SIGNING BETWEEN THEM

Record ID: 338043

  • Title: SOUTH KOREA: SOUTH KOREA AND THE UNITED STATES HAVE COMMEMORATED THE 50TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE MUTUAL DEFENCE TREATY SIGNING BETWEEN THEM
  • Date: 30th September 2003
  • Summary: (U3) SEOUL, SOUTH KOREA (SEPTEMBER 30, 2003) (REUTERS - ACCESS ALL) 1. SV/SLV VARIOUS OF MILITARY BAND SOLDIERS MARCHING (3 SHOTS) 0.20 2. LV/SLV/SV CEREMONY/SALUTING OFFICIALS FROM LEFT TO RIGHT: SOUTH KOREAN DEFENCE MINISTER CHO YOUNG-KIL, U.S. AMBASSADOR TO SOUTH KOREA THOMAS HUBBARD, GENERAL OF COMMANDER OF U.S. FORCES KOREA LEON J. LAPORTE, DE
  • Embargoed: 15th October 2003 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: SEOUL, SOUTH KOREA
  • Country: South Korea
  • Reuters ID: LVA8VWX2C6623F2F7YW03YCZ4H
  • Story Text: South Korea and the United States have commemorated
    the 50th anniversary of the Mutual Defence Treaty signing
    between them.



    The United States and South Korea marked the 50th
    anniversary of their military alliance on Tuesday
    (September 30), praising their joint deterrence of the
    North but were unsure if Seoul will send troops to Iraq on
    Washington's request.

    "Welcome to today's honour guard ceremony
    commemorating the signing of the Mutual Defense Treaty
    between the Republic of Korea and the United States fifty
    years ago," said General Leon Laporte, commander of U.S.

    forces in Korea.

    The United States -- which has 37,000 troops in the
    South in case of a communist attack -- has asked South
    Korea for combat troops to help stabilise post-war Iraq.

    A South Korean newspaper quoted a U.S. official saying
    Washington would like 5,000 troops and a decision by
    mid-October.

    "We have identified a need, a requirement in Iraq and
    asked the Korean government to consider how it might help
    us fill that need," said the U.S. ambassador to South
    Korea, Thomas Hubbard.

    Artillery salutes reverberated around Seoul from the
    main U.S. base at Yongsan in the heart of South Korea's
    capital and soldiers from both armed forces marched past
    dignitaries and 200 U.S. and South Korean veterans of the
    1950-53 Korean War.

    Asked later whether Seoul could say "no" to the latest
    U.S. troop request given their alliance, Hubbard told
    reporters:
    "Of course South Korea is one of those nations that has
    a strong military capability and has a very large army so
    we think it's appropriate that South Korea consider how it
    might help. Obviously any decision on this is one for that
    only the South Korean government and people can make."
    South Korean President Roh Moo-hyun told senior U.S
    military officers at dinner on Monday (September 29) his
    country could repay the United States for its help over the
    past half-century
    by contributing to global peace. But he did not commit
    himself on the Iraq request.

    Roh is caught between turning down his main ally and
    alienating the public before an April parliamentary
    election.

    The government has said it is studying Washington's
    request. United Nations forces led by the United
    Stat
    es battled
    Chinese-backed North Korea in the Korean War, which ended
    in a truce that has since kept the two Koreas in a
    technical state of
    war.

    Talks of relocating the U.S. Forces Korea (USFK) army
    bases out of the prime real estate area in Seoul has
    sparked debate in recent months, yet General LaPorte said
    the position of the bases was not important anymore.

    "Fifty years ago, (it) was very important to have
    units' positioned at a certain location. Today because of
    technology, they can be disposed everywhere. And we are
    very much aware of the security considerations are not
    peninsula-centric. They apply to North east Asia as a
    region but also globally to the entire world," said General
    LaPorte.

    A military expert said the reason for the U.S.

    government to relocate the troops would result from its
    changed international policy into preemptive tactics after
    September 11 air attack in
    2001.

    The United States and South Korea agreed in June to a
    timetable for removing front-line American forces from the
    South's border with communist North Korea in a bid to boost
    security.

    The two-phase, multi-year pullback of ground troops
    from near the Demilitarised Zone (DMZ), dividing the
    peninsula, was agreed after two days of bilateral talks in
    Seoul.

    The two sides emphasized the relocation meant to
    enhance the deterrence and security of the region.

    The re-alignment plan had caused anxiety in South Korea
    because it was unveiled in the middle of a crisis over the
    North's nuclear programme that has escalated since late
    last year.

    Some South Koreans had voiced concern that a shift of
    the troops away from the frontier could be perceived by
    North Korea as a weakening of U.S. support for Seoul.



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