By Xinhua,
Seoul : South Korea’s Defense Minister Lee Sang-hee and his U.S. counterpart Robert M. Gates agreed Tuesday to maintain the level of 28,500 American troops here, a senior defense official here said.
The meeting in Seoul followed a summit between South Korean President Lee Myung-bak and U.S. President George W. Bush in Aprilwhen the two heads of state agreed to freeze a drawdown of U.S. forces in Korea.
“The defense ministers shared their view that maintaining the number of U.S. troops at the current level contributes to the joint combat readiness, and agreed to abide by the summit agreement between the two sides,” the official, speaking on customary condition of anonymity, was quoted by South Korea’s Yonhap News Agency .
Bush had promised to halt the drawdown of U.S. troops in Korea in his meeting with his South Korean counterpart, but the head of the U.S. Forces Korea, Gen. Burwell B. Bell, said last week that Washington may pull out additional troops if it was necessary to do so due to the U.S. war against terrorism in Iraq and Afghanistan.
The United States has long demanded South Korea to allow greater flexibility of its troops here to be deployed to other combat zones, but the latter is cautious about granting such flexibility as it fears the move could turn the country into a forward base for the U.S. war on terrorism while unnecessarily provoking the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea.
Lee Sang-hee and Gates co-hosted a change of command ceremony later Tuesday for the USFK, whose incoming commander Gen. Walter L.Sharp will also head the United Nations Command and the South Korea-U.S. Combined Forces Command, according to the Defense Ministry.
Gates will hold a press conference before he leaves Seoul later Tuesday, according to the USFK.