Seoul, Jan 19: President Roh Moo-Hyun has said the decision to pull all US troops out of metropolitan Seoul will not weaken South Korea's security against North Korean military threats. "There is nothing to worry about it at all," Roh was quoted as saying by his office when he met leaders of the pro-government Uri Party last evening.
"We have done our best in our negotiations with the US military,” he said.
The agreement between the United States and South Korea to relocate 7,000 US troops and family members from their base smack in the center of Seoul will make the South Korean capital free of foreign troops for the first time in a century. Yet the move is a divisive issue.
To some, the base is a symbol of the US-South Korean alliance that repelled a communist invasion during the 1950-53 Korean war and provided the security that made South Korea's economic growth possible.
South Korea's postwar generations, however, often see the foreign military presence in their capital as a slight to national pride. Others complain the 656-acre (262-hectare) base occupies prime real estate and worsens the city's chronic traffic congestion. Crimes involving US soldiers further fuel anti-American sentiment. Bureau Report