South Korea said that the issue of US troops deployed in the country is not related to a future peace agreement with North Korea. South Korea said US troops must remain in the country even though the agreement is signed.
"US forces deployed in South Korea are an alliance-related issue between South Korea and the US This has nothing to do with the signing of a peace agreement," Kim Presidential Palace spokesman Kim Eui-kyeom quoted President Moon Jae-in as saying on Wednesday (2/5/2018).
The South Korean presidential palace said it was responding to media questions about a column written by South Korean presidential advisor and academic Moon Chung-in published earlier this week.
Moon Chung-in said it would be difficult to justify the presence of US troops in South Korea if a peace deal was signed after North Korea agreed at last week's historic summit to end the Korean conflict.
"Presidential advisor, Moon Chung-in was asked not to confuse the president's attitude," Kim said.
According to another presidential official who spoke to reporters on condition of anonymity, Seoul wants to keep the US troops as it plays a mediating role in military confrontations between neighboring superpowers such as China and Japan.
The United States currently has some 28,500 troops stationed in South Korea, which North Korea has long demanded to be removed as one of the conditions to stop its nuclear and missile programs.
However, it was not mentioned in a statement last week by Moon Jae-in and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un about the withdrawal of US troops from South Korea. Kim and Moon Jae-in promise to work to "fully denuclearize" the Korean peninsula.
US forces have been stationed in the South since the Korean War, which ended in 1953 in a ceasefire that left the two Koreas technically still at war.
Moon Jae-in and Kim Jong-un say they want to end the Korean conflict, promising "no more war" on the Korean peninsula.
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