Seoul: A U.S. expert said Thursday that he is not ruling out the possibility of a change in the U.S. force posture in South Korea in the next three years, amid speculation that U.S. President Donald Trump's administration could seek a troop reduction in an adjustment to better counter Chinese threats. Victor Cha, president of the Geopolitics and Foreign Policy Department at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), made the remarks during a podcast on a recently released joint fact sheet on security and trade agreements between Seoul and Washington, as well as a joint communique from the allies' defense ministerial talks.
According to Yonhap News Agency, the communique from the Security Consultative Meeting earlier this month has reinforced speculation about the possibility of a troop drawdown in Korea, as it omitted what had been a boilerplate phrase underlining the U.S.' commitment to maintaining the "current" force level of the 28,500-strong U.S. Forces Korea (USFK). "I would not rule that out ... some change in the force posture on the (Korean) Peninsula in the next three years," Cha said.