Pentagon to reduce its role in deterrence of North Korea | North Korea

In a move that could raise concerns in Seoul, the Pentagon envisions a “more limited” role to deter North Korea, with South Korea assuming primary responsibility for that mission, a Pentagon policy document released Friday said.

South Korea hosts about 28,500 U.S. troops for joint defense against the military threat from North Korea, and Seoul increased its defense budget by 7.5% for this year.

“South Korea has the capacity to assume primary responsibility for deterring North Korea with critical but more limited U.S. support,” said the National Defense Strategy, a document that guides the Pentagon’s policies.

“This shift in the balance of responsibility is consistent with America’s interest in updating the position of US forces on the Korean Peninsula,” the document said. In recent years, some U.S. officials have signaled a desire to make it more flexible for U.S. forces in South Korea to operate outside the Korean peninsula in response to a broader range of threats, such as defending Taiwan and checking China’s growing military reach.

South Korea has resisted the idea of ​​changing the role of U.S. troops, but over the past 20 years has sought to improve its defensive capabilities to assume wartime command of combined U.S.-South Korean forces. South Korea has 450,000 soldiers.

In the comprehensive document published by each new administration, it was stated that the Pentagon’s priority was to defend the homeland. The document states that the Pentagon is focused on ensuring that China cannot dominate the United States or its allies in the Indo-Pacific region.

“This does not require regime change or any other existential struggle. More precisely, a reasonable peace in favor of the Americans, which China can also accept and live under, is possible,” the document said, without mentioning Taiwan’s name in the approximately 25-page document.

China claims to democratically govern Taiwan as its own territory and has not ruled out using force to seize control of the island. Taiwan rejects Beijing’s claims to sovereignty and says only the Taiwanese people can decide their own future.