On The Adjustment Of US Armed Forces In South Korea And Its Multi-Dimensional Analysis

It is of profound and wide strategic significance for the US to have its armed forces stationed in South Korea in the past, at present or in the future. For decades, US armed forces in South Korea, as part of the frontal military deployment of the Asian-Pacific region which is vital to the US interests, have been regarded by the US as the "stabilizer"of the situation of the Korean Peninsula and even the Northeast Asian region and the symbol of the US safe obligations in this area. Since the end of the Iraqi War, the US has begun to accelerate the strategic adjustment aiming at strengthening the maneuver of its overseas garrisons, with the Asian-Pacific region replacing Europe to become the key of its military strategy, in which how to adjust the US armed forces in the Asian-Pacific region, particularly the US armed forces in South Korea, which have been called the "fuse", has been the focus of concern of Northeast Asian countries. At present, it can be said that the redeployment of the US armed forces in South Korea has been the greatest adjustment since the end of the Korean War. The base of the adjusted US armed forces in South Korea will become the most frontal rapid-response transfer station of the US armed forces in the Northeast Asia and even the Asian-Pacific region and the most key and important circle of the US establishing the security network of the Asian-Pacific region and strengthening the contact between the mainland strategic bases and the strategic frontal belts. Compared to the past adjustments of the US armed forces in South Korea often presented and exercised in the relative relaxing period of the situation of the Korean Peninsula, the difference is that the adjustment at this time is made in the period when the North Korean nuclear crisis has bee continuously intensified. In such a sensitive period, the US armed forces in South Korea takes no further action but withdraws all actions, which arouses the wide attention of various countries. Beginning with the study on the dynamic information of the current adjustment of the US armed forces in South Korea, the paper makes an intensive analysis of the content, tasks and causes of the adjustment of the US armed forces in South Korea and the prospect of the US armed forces in South Korea, and finally comments on the impacts that the adjustment of the US armed forces will give. The whole paper is divided into six parts. In the Introduction, the historical roles of the US armed forces in South Korea in the US Northeast Asian security strategies are given a brief comment, with the significance of study on the current adjustment of the US armed forces in South Korea presented. In Part 2, the introduction and analysis of the content and basic tasks of the current adjustment of the US armed forced in South Korea is made, mainly including the introduction of the basic situation of the US armed forces in South Korea prior to the adjustment and the analysis of the content of the current adjustment of the US armed forces in South Korea and its basic tasks after the adjustment. Firstly, the three points of the basic situation of the US armed forces in South Korea prior to the adjustment, including the origin of the US armed forces in South Korea and the deployment of military strength of the US armed forces in South Korea and its main tasks prior to the adjustment. Secondly, the concrete content of the current adjustment of the US armed forces in South Korea, mainly including the following three points:reduction of the number of soldiers and the scale of the base, transfer of most of fighting missions to South Korea and upgrading and construction of military equipment. Finally, the basic tasks of the current adjustment of the US armed forces in South Korea are analyzed, with the two basic ones after the adjustment of the US armed forces in South Korea pointed out. The first is to strengthen the all-round containment of North Korea and efficiency of the anti-strike of the US armed forces in advance. The second is to take the chance to expand its force in the name "dynamic defense"and construct the systemized strategic space in order to attain the aim of seizing the leadership of the Asian-Pacific region. In Part 3, the causes of the current adjustment of the US armed forces in South Korea, with the factors of the US, North Korea and South Korea mainly analyzed. Firstly, viewed from the factor of the US itself, it aims at adapting to the transfer of the security strategy of the US, including the transfer of the US global military strategy and the ideas of the US and its alliance. Secondly, viewed from the factor of North Korea, it aims at upgrading the capabilities of response the US armed forces to the crisis and improving the security coefficient of the US armed forces. Finally, viewed from South Korea, it aims at reducing the military differences between the US and South Korea and the South Korean anti-US emotions. In Part 4, the prospect of the US armed forces in South Korea is analyzed. This part focuses on the problems of whether the US armed forces in South Korea will remain or withdraw out of the Korean Peninsula in the future. Firstly, the vision of the US on the US armed forces in South Korea is introduced. On the one hand, the US thinks that the US armed forces in South Korea is the basis of containing North Korea and the effective means of keeping the center of the Korean Peninsula and the Northeast Asian regionstable and assuring the impact and control of the US in this region. On the other one, the US thinks that the Korea Peninsula with the prominent strategic position will continue to be the geo-political focus of Northeast Asia even if the reconciliation and reunification of South Korea and North Korea are realized. Therefore, it has trended to be the open and common US policy to continue keeping the US armed forces in South Korea. Secondly, the attitudes of both South Korea and North Korea towards the problem of the US withdrawal are introduced. As far as South Korea is concerned, the US armed forces in South Korea have always been a problem over which there are many disputes. Although the anti-US emotions of the South Koreans are in high rise, viewed from South Korea, the high-level decision-makers of South Korea thinks that the US armed forces in South Korea is the assurance of making South Korea acquire great interests, improving the international status of South Korea and keeping the special relations between the US and South Korea. For North Korea, the US armed force in South Korea is its chessman of acquiring greater interests. Therefore, the attitudes of North Korea and South Korea provide the possibility for keeping the US armed forces in South Korea. In Part 5, based on the above analysis, the possible impacts that the adjustment of the US armed forces in South Korea will give are analyzed and predicted. The following four aspects are mainly analyzed. The first is the impact of the current adjustment of the US armed forces in South Korea on the military strategy of the Korean Peninsula. The second is the impact on the crisis in the Korean Peninsula. The third is the impact on the relations between the US and South Korea. The fourth is the impact on the regional relations of the Northeast Asia. The final part is the conclusion of the paper. It is pointed out that theadjustment of the US armed forces in South Korea in the Korean Peninsula shows the strategy of "retreating in order to advance"that the US has begun to carry out, whose purpose is by no means to impair or abandon the impact of the US as "the most key external force of determining the future of the Korean Peninsula"in the Korean Peninsula but to achieve the greater military and political flexibility and initiative.