{"id":106840,"date":"2018-04-18T21:02:14","date_gmt":"2018-04-18T21:02:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/militarytimes\/uncategorized\/2018\/04\/18\/us-forces-in-korea-arent-packing-up-just-yet-heres-why\/"},"modified":"2026-08-08T11:39:05","modified_gmt":"2026-08-08T11:39:05","slug":"us-forces-in-korea-arent-packing-up-just-yet-heres-why","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/militarytimes\/flashpoints\/2018\/04\/18\/us-forces-in-korea-arent-packing-up-just-yet-heres-why\/","title":{"rendered":"US forces in Korea aren\u2019t packing up just yet. Here\u2019s why."},"content":{"rendered":"\n

As North Korean and South Korean leaders<\/a> gear up for a summit next week, the two countries are reportedly negotiating a peace agreement that could end the Korean War, which technically remains a 68-year-old conflict that was never resolved.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, any deal between the two Koreas is unlikely to change the mission of about 23,000 troops along the Korean Peninsula<\/a>. And more importantly, the south can\u2019t actually sign a peace treaty on its own. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThere may be a bit of misconjecture at play here,\u201d said Bruce Klingner<\/a>, a senior research fellow on Northeast Asia at the Heritage Foundation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe Koreas themselves technically can\u2019t sign a peace treaty, because the armistice was signed by China, North Korea and the United Nations command<\/a>. South Korea wasn\u2019t a signatory.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Klingner was referring to the 1953 armistice that ended the fighting on the Korean peninsula and created the Korean demilitarized zone, or DMZ. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

To officially end the war, Klingner said: \u201cIt would need formal U.N. action, the involvement of China and the United States as signatories and guarantors.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Even if they did sign a peace treaty, that only removes the legal justification for having the U.N. command there. U.S. lawmakers may try to score political points by bringing American forces home, but that would leave South Korea still vulnerable.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Defense Secretary Jim Mattis and South Korean Minister of Defence Song Young-moo visit the Demilitarized Zone between North and South Korea during a visit to the Joint Security Area in South Korea, Oct. 27. (Sgt. Amber I. Smith\/Army)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThere is still a conventional military threat to the Republic of Korea,\u201d Klingner said. \u201cEven if you address the nuclear missile, chemical and biological threat, you still have a million-man army in North Korea, forward deployed near the Demilitarized Zone<\/a> with mechanized corps, armored corps, and artillery corps in an offensive, not defensive, posture.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Speculation about the future of the U.S. mission in Korea began early Tuesday<\/a> morning, when South Korean President Moon Jae-In was quoted as saying he wanted to create permanent peace between the Koreas. Those comments were interpreted internationally \u2018as they want to sign a peace treaty,\u2019 Klingner said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Adding to the Korean Peninsula buzz is the revelation<\/a> that CIA Director Mike Pompeo recently traveled to North Korea to meet with leader Kim Jong Un, ahead of President Donald Trump\u2019s own meeting with the hermit kingdom\u2019s leader in the coming months. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

That isn\u2019t all that surprising, though, said retired Lt. Gen. James Dubik, a senior fellow at the Institute for the Study of War.<\/p>\n\n\n\t