U.S. House proposes bill to stall U.S. pullout from S. Korea
Arirang News
2019-01-31
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Lawmakers in the U.S. House of Representatives have proposed a bill.... to send a message to North Korean leader Kim Jong-un before his next summit with President Trump.
Park Ji-won has more.
A bipartisan group of eight U.S. lawmakers proposed a bill on Wednesday... aiming to preemptively stop the Trump administration from withdrawing U.S. forces from South Korea.
The bill, titled the "United States and Republic of Korea Alliance Support Act," lays out stricter conditions that would have to be met to justify a withdrawal,.. something that could tip the balance of power in Northeast Asia.
The bill says... if the administration decides to reduce the number of U.S. troops to below 22-thousand,... the secretary of defense must report to both the House and the Senate the expected impact on North Korea,.... as well as the expected military and economic impacts on U.S. relations with both South Korea and Japan.
The bill also requires the secretary of defense and the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff to jointly certify... to the relevant congressional committees... that South Korea is fully capable of defending itself and of deterring any military conflict on the Peninsula... that would threaten U.S. interests.
The lawmakers apparently made the decision in view of the next summit between the North Korean and American leaders... tentatively scheduled for next month.
"We think it's important to establish before the next meeting between President Trump and Kim Jong-un that the United States is not about to leave South Korea at least not before there's transformational progress on the Korean Peninsula. Our presence there has prevented war for more than 60 years. It would be reckless we think to abandon this commitment on the basis of paper promises from the North Koreans while they continue to threaten the region with both nuclear and conventional weapons."
The bill's release came... a day after a top U.S. intelligence official testified to Congress that North Korea's complete denuclearization seems unlikely.
President Trump has also hinted in the past at pulling some U.S. forces out Korea... because of the cost of maintaining them.
Park Ji-won, Arirang News.
Park Ji-won has more.
A bipartisan group of eight U.S. lawmakers proposed a bill on Wednesday... aiming to preemptively stop the Trump administration from withdrawing U.S. forces from South Korea.
The bill, titled the "United States and Republic of Korea Alliance Support Act," lays out stricter conditions that would have to be met to justify a withdrawal,.. something that could tip the balance of power in Northeast Asia.
The bill says... if the administration decides to reduce the number of U.S. troops to below 22-thousand,... the secretary of defense must report to both the House and the Senate the expected impact on North Korea,.... as well as the expected military and economic impacts on U.S. relations with both South Korea and Japan.
The bill also requires the secretary of defense and the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff to jointly certify... to the relevant congressional committees... that South Korea is fully capable of defending itself and of deterring any military conflict on the Peninsula... that would threaten U.S. interests.
The lawmakers apparently made the decision in view of the next summit between the North Korean and American leaders... tentatively scheduled for next month.
"We think it's important to establish before the next meeting between President Trump and Kim Jong-un that the United States is not about to leave South Korea at least not before there's transformational progress on the Korean Peninsula. Our presence there has prevented war for more than 60 years. It would be reckless we think to abandon this commitment on the basis of paper promises from the North Koreans while they continue to threaten the region with both nuclear and conventional weapons."
The bill's release came... a day after a top U.S. intelligence official testified to Congress that North Korea's complete denuclearization seems unlikely.
President Trump has also hinted in the past at pulling some U.S. forces out Korea... because of the cost of maintaining them.
Park Ji-won, Arirang News.
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