DATE=8/30/2000
TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT
TITLE=NORTH KOREA / U-S TROOPS (L)
NUMBER=2-265965
BYLINE=ALISHA RYU
DATELINE=HONG KONG
CONTENT=
VOICED AT:
INTRO: South Korean President Kim Dae-jung says that
North Korean leader Kim Jong Il has agreed to a
continued U-S troop presence on the Korean peninsula -
even after reunification. VOA's Alisha Ryu in our Asia
News Center reports Mr. Kim's comments confirm recent
news reports on this sensitive issue.
TEXT: President Kim says that the North Korean leader
and he are in full agreement on the need for U-S
troops to keep the peace in Northeast Asia, even if
the two Koreas reunite. In an interview with the
Washington Post Tuesday, Mr. Kim says he received that
assurance during his conversations with Kim Jong Il at
their historic June summit meeting in Pyongyang.
The South Korean president says the North Korean
leader went so far as to call U-S troop presence
"desirable" and agreed that the troops would deter
China, Japan and Russia from seeking regional
hegemony. Mr. Kim says that several years ago, North
Korea even sent a high-level envoy to the United
States to say Pyongyang would no longer make the
withdrawal of U-S troops from South Korea a
prerequisite for reunification.
North Korea had always insisted, publicly at least,
that reunification could not take place until all 37-
thousand American troops currently stationed in South
Korea were withdrawn. Pyongyang regularly referred to
them as an "occupation army" and sometimes demanded
their removal as a condition for improved relations
with Washington and Seoul.
The rapid thaw in relations between the communist
North and South Korea since the landmark summit have
raised questions on the future of U-S troops in Korea,
who have helped keep the uneasy peace between the two
sides since the Korean War ended in an armed truce in
1953.
Some South Korean groups have recently led public
protests, demanding a reduction in forces. But the
United States and South Korea are eager to keep the
troops in place to discourage a regional power
struggle. (Signed)
NEB/HK/AR/JO
30-Aug-2000 04:20 AM LOC (30-Aug-2000 0820 UTC)
NNNN
Source: Voice of America
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