Senators
move to prevent Trump from removing US troops in South Korea
13
June, 2018
A
pair of Senate Democrats introduced a bill Wednesday that would
prevent President Donald
Trump from
unilaterally drawing down the American troop presence on the Korean
peninsula – not necessarily because he’s said he will, but
because they don’t want to rely on his word that he won’t.
Other
measures that also tie the president’s hands, but don’t go as
far, are already closer to being passed as part of an essential
military policy bill.
The
new legislation, from Sens. Chris Murphy, D-Conn., and Tammy
Duckworth, D-Ill., would prevent Trump from withdrawing troops
from South
Korea unless
the secretary of defense says it’s in the interest of national
security and
that it would not undermine the security of allies in the region.
“U.S.
troops are not bargaining chips to be offered up in an off-handed
manner,” Duckworth said in a statement.
During
his summit with North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un, Trump announced
the U.S. would be ending large-scale annual military exercises
conducted with South Korea but insisted that the status of the 28,500
American soldiers on the peninsula is not up for negotiation.
“They
are going to stay. We didn’t even discuss that, that wasn’t
discussed,” Trump said in an interview with
Voice of America.
But
he also said, during a press conference, that he still wants to draw
down troops in Korea at some point – just not as part of
negotiations over the North’s nuclear capability.
“At
some point, I have to be honest. I used to say this during my
campaign… I want to bring our soldiers back home. We have 32,000
soldiers in South Korea. I would like to be able to bring them back
home. That’s not part of the equation. At some point, I hope it
would be,” he said.
ABC
News
That
type of uncertainty was enough for Murphy to try to establish some
new restrictions.
“I
don’t think it’s smart policy for Congress to rely on the word of
the president,” the Connecticut Democrat told ABC. “This time he
gave away exercises for nothing, what’s to stop him from giving
away troops for nothing?”
The
two Democrats want their amendment added to the Senate’s version of
the National Defense Authorization Act, which sets military policy
for the next fiscal year. The House’s version already has a similar
provision, which would limit funds that can be used to reduce troop
levels in South Korea, and the Senate includes a “sense of the
Senate” provision stipulating that “the significant removal of
the United States military forces from the Korean Peninsula is a
non-negotiable item” as it relates to North Korea’s
denuclearization.
Once
each chamber passes its respective NDAA, the two must be merged in
what is known as a conference committee.
So
while Murphy would obviously like to see his bill passed, he
acknowledged that this year’s NDAA will be making some sort of a
statement warning the president not to try to reduce troop levels in
South Korea unless there is a national security imperative.
Sen.
Dan Sullivan, R-Alaska, who wrote the sense of the Senate resolution,
said he is concerned Trump might try to limit troop numbers on the
Korean peninsula, which he warned would play right into China’s
desires to have an unchallenged presence in the region.
“The
Chinese have probably been coaching Kim Jong Un to seek that as part
of the nuclear negotiation goals,” he told ABC.
Last
month, Trump ordered the Pentagon to issue options for reducing the
American presence in South Korea, despite his administration’s
assurances that they were not a bargaining chip in the Kim talks.
Sen.
Lindsey Graham, a South Carolina Republican, said those kinds of
comments indicate that it might be time to consider tying the
president’s hands when it comes to defense on the peninsula.
“I
generally wouldn’t be open to that, but I might be now,” he told
ABC, although he added that the Senate should hold a hearing on the
Murphy/Duckworth proposition before any votes are contemplated.
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