We will move a large base housing our major headquarters from Seoul to a location further south:
About 28,000 U.S. troops are now based in South Korea. The number will drop to 25,000 by the end of 2008 as the troops' main role shifts to offering the South's military aerial and naval support to deter any aggression by the North.
The new facility at Pyeongtaek will be home to 17,000 of the remaining troops, along with attached South Korean military, support staff and families for a total 43,000 people.
The U.S. has already begun consolidating its bases and moving away from the heavily armed Demilitarized Zone that divides the North and South.
One thing that stays our hand when contemplating military action against North Korean nuclear facilities is that the North Koreans could kill many Americans just by shelling our troops near the DMZ.
With our forces too far away for such an easy retalitation option, we will have a more credible military threat should North Korea cheat on their nuclear disarmament agreement now being hammered out.
