USFK Troops Withdrawn by October

The Associated Press quoted a U.S. military officer as saying that most of the USFK positioned in the truce village of Panmunjeom will be withdrawn by the end of October. Captain Ryan Robert said, “Roughly 550 ROK soldiers and USFK troops are now positioned in Panmunjeom,” and added, “65 percent of them are ROK soldiers, but after the mission transfer is completed on October 31, ROK soldiers will account for 93 percent.”

He said, “We are discussing various issues such as which building should be handed over to the ROK forces first.”

Currently, ROK soldiers and USFK troops are jointly patrolling Panmunjeom. Once the withdrawal of USFK troops is completed, ROK soldiers will be solely in charge of patrolling the Joint Security Area (JSA).

The withdrawal was agreed upon at last year’s Future of Alliance Policy Initiative talks as part of the plan to move USKF bases to south of the Han River.

Young-Sik Kim spear@donga.com