http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=stor...q_usa_korea_dc

Finally. The US needs to reduce it's force in South Korea. For too long South Korea and Japan have relied on the US military to protect them. The South Koreans should step up like adults and have the US stop holding their hands.

This isn't to say we should remove all troops and presence from the peninsula, far from it. We should instead concentrate manpower into intelligence and covert operations around the Korean Peninsula.

North Korea does pose a threat, this is clear, but we shouldn't put our troops at risk too soon for the sake of a country with twice the population and twenty times the economy of its northern cousin. The American troops in Japan are close enough that if any conflict does break out, they can respond in due time to assist the South Koreans if necessary.

Darken

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Walk down the right back alley in Sin City and you can find anything...

Show your kids you love them by buying them the No. 7 brand.

1,000,000 troops within 15 minutes of the DMZ?

How quickly could the troops in Japan respond if Kim Jong Ill decided it was time for them to stretch their legs....??

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The last time this country mixed politics with religion, people got burned at the stake.

...South Koreans are defenseless headless chickens right?

The South Koreans NEED to be able to defend themselves. If they don't learn now when the threat is the greatest, then when?

Besides if you have ever seen or been to the DMZ you will clearly see the most defended line of terrain on this Earth.

Darken

__________________
Walk down the right back alley in Sin City and you can find anything...

Show your kids you love them by buying them the No. 7 brand.

Well, we need our troops in Iraq. Those countries who are NOT participating there should take up the slack in South Korea. That's only fair.

I'd point out that in the Korean War, South Korea stood no chance. The North Korean military was and is very powerful. I even read an estimate that if North Korea would see it fit to invade South Korea tommorrow, the border would stand no chance, the US forces included.

In Korea the US presence is viewed with mixed opinions, they dislike but want it. I find this an interesting sign, as they are moving these troops because the US needs more troops in Iraq. I does hint at a withdrawal of more US troops around the world, but we will see.

the US has about 30,000 troops on the Korean peninsula. There are more stationed in Japan, but they wouldn't be able to do much in a quick moving war.

Besides, it is true that the North has about a million troops stationed near the DMZ, but let's not forget that the South has over 600,000. And they are much better trained. The South Korean army is by no means a weak one. They could probably handle the North on their own if they needed to.

We'll wait to see if Finland steps up to the task and takes up any of the slack.

How so?
I don't think the South Korean government would approve of your ever generous offer of a multinational force deployed at their border.

This threat from North Korea concerns the entire world not just the US and NK's neighbors. To allow a UN force to protect from aggression in hopes of stopping the spread of nuclear proliferation makes sense.

Darken

__________________
Walk down the right back alley in Sin City and you can find anything...

Show your kids you love them by buying them the No. 7 brand.

__________________
The last time this country mixed politics with religion, people got burned at the stake.