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| USFK Commander Robert Abrams / Xinhua-Yonhap |
USFK chief shares idea with Senate
By Kim Bo-eun
Robert Abrams, commander of the U.S. Forces Korea (USFK), on Tuesday said U.S. troops need to stay here until a peace treaty is signed.
The remarks came in a Senate Armed Services Committee hearing. To a question about the need for the USFK to maintain its presence in South Korea, even if the nuclear threat from the North were to be eliminated, the commander said, "Yes, until there is a peace treaty, because we still remain in a state of armistice."
Abrams said the USFK presence "is appropriate in terms of providing an adequate deterrent" against North Korea.
The hearing reflected concerns in the Senate over a possible offer by U.S. President Donald Trump to pull out U.S. troops here amid negotiations with North Korea over its denuclearization, despite recent remarks by Trump that this was not being discussed.
Trump has continued to claim that the U.S. spends excessively on maintaining troops overseas.
On joint military exercises between the allies, the USFK commander said he would continue to plan joint training.
"Since I have been there in November, we are continuing to train, conducting combined training and exercises with our ROK counterparts, that is continuing unabated," he said.
"But it's adjusted in accordance with some innovating things we've done by adjusting size, scope, volume, and the timing so that we can continue to preserve space for Mr. Biegun and the Department of State to do their jobs."
South Korea and the U.S. are set to stage the two-week Key Resolve exercise in March. However, they will announce their plans for joint drills for the first half of the year after the summit between Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un scheduled for Feb. 27-28.
The allies postponed their exercises last spring as North Korea began engaging in a process to reduce tension. Pyongyang has regarded the military training as a threat to its regime. In the North Korean leader's New Year address this year, he said the drills as well as the deployment of strategic assets need to be halted. Attention is growing over whether Washington may offer these as corresponding measures for Pyongyang's denuclearization steps at the upcoming summit.
The USFK commander emphasized the need for a balance between military readiness against possible threats while leaving room for diplomacy to take place.
"We must continuously strike a balance between the clear need to train and exercise military capability and the requirement to create space for and support strategic diplomacy," Abrams said in a written statement.
