By Ryu Jin
Staff Reporter

The United States wants some 3,500 to 4,000 soldiers of the 37,000 American troops stationed in Korea to be redeployed to Iraq by Aug. 15 at the latest, South Korea’s defense chief said on Wednesday.

``Gen. LaPorte, commander of U.S. Forces Korea (USFK), told me that he received a request from the U.S. military chief in Iraq that the American troops in Korea should be sent to Iraq by Aug. 15 so there would not be any problem in coping with the worsening situation there,’’ Defense Minister Cho Young-kil told lawmakers during the National Assembly’s defense committee meeting.

Cho said LaPorte will leave for Washington on Thursday to discuss related matters, including the question of whether the Iraq-bound U.S. troops will return to Korea after their mission in the Middle East.

``No talks have yet been held on that problem. That is an issue which Seoul and Washington should discuss in earnest. It is premature to see the relocation as a reduction of troop levels, Cho said.

In an effort to calm down growing public concern and discuss proper measures for the possible security vacuum, President Roh Moo-hyun will host an emergency meeting of security-related ministers on Thursday.

Since the end of the 1950-53 Korean War, the United States has maintained some 37,000 troops in South Korea to deter North Korea’s 1.1 million-strong armed forces, the world’s fifth largest. South Korea has 690,000 troops.

Faced with the changing security environment in recent years, however, the George W. Bush administration is trying to realign its forces overseas under the new plan known as the ``Global Defense Posture Review (GPR).’’

South Korea’s Foreign Minister Ban Ki-moon admitted the USFK realignment is also being conducted in line with the GPR, which the U.S. Pentagon believes would give its forces more agility and flexibility.

A senior Seoul official said the two allies will embark on discussions concerning the troop realignment based on the GPR, which classifies U.S. overseas bases by four categories _ Power Projection Hub (PPH); Main Operation Base (MOB); Forward Operating Site (FOS); and Cooperative Security Location (CSL).

He said, when the new concept of military posture is realized, the USFK would stand somewhere between PPH and MOB. Japan, the U.S.’ strongest ally in Asia, will likely be one of the PPHs, given the past remarks by authoritative U.S. officials.

``Even if South Korea became a second-level MOB for the United States, it would not mean that the ROK-U.S. alliance was downgraded by one bit,’’ a government official asserted.

A military expert explained that PPHs, which would be hubs for large-scale troops and military equipment, will be established mainly in the U.S. mainland. ``Guam and Britain, and possibly Japan, would be the few candidates for the U.S.’ overseas PPHs,’’ he said.

jinryu@koreatimes.co.kr