U.S. moving on pullout from tense Korea DMZ

Reducing the U.S. presence in the area around Panmunjom, a truce village in the middle of the no man’s land dividing North and South Korea, was announced this spring. By October, all but a handful of American soldiers are to be removed, handing over most border patrol duties to South Korea.

U.S. Army Capt. Ryan Roberts, with the battalion stationed here, said the transfer was proceeding smoothly, with the two sides negotiating about which buildings to hand over to South Korea first.

The U.S. military also is training South Korean soldiers there in the use of South Korean firearms and military hardware. South Korean troops currently attached to U.S. units use mainly U.S. equipment, Roberts said.

“This will all belong to the ROK Army,” he said of the U.S. bases Camp Bonifas and Camp Liberty Bell, nestled along the border. ROK stands for Republic of Korea, South Korea’s official name.

The pullout is part of a plan to consolidate the 37,000 U.S. troops stationed in South Korea at expanded bases further south of the North Korean border. South Korea-U.S. negotiations on the repositioning ended in discord Tuesday over how much land would be needed for the new locations.

The future of the U.S. military in South Korea faced another test earlier this week, when the United States announced separate plans to withdraw 12,500 U.S. troops from South Korea by the end of 2005.

Both allies are still discussing those plans, which have not been finalized.

The pullout of U.S. troops along the heavily fortified buffer, called the Demilitarized Zone, is not linked to the bigger troop withdrawal. U.S. Gen. Leon J. LaPorte, joint commander of the U.S. Forces Korea and the U.N. Command, has said the changes are meant to give South Korea a greater role in defending itself.

North and South Korea are separated by the 2 1/2-mile wide, 151-mile long DMZ, a Cold War vestige strewn with mines, barbed wire and tank traps.

There are about 550 South Korean and U.S. troops in the Panmunjom area now. South Koreans account for about 65 percent of the force, but that figure will jump to 93 percent after the Oct. 31 handover. After that date, U.S. forces will comprise just 7 percent of the region's defensive punch.

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