By Shim Jae-yun
Staff Reporter

The United States notified Seoul last June of its intention to pull out 12,000 of the 37,000 troops stationed in South Korea, a senior Chong Wa Dae official said on Friday. It is the first official confirmation by the South Korean government of the plan for a significant reduction of U.S. forces here.

The details of the withdrawal will be negotiated during talks beginning next month, he said on condition of anonymity.

``In the June 5, 2003 Future of the Alliance Policy Initiative (FOTA) meeting, the U.S. broached the idea of a troop withdrawal,’’ he said. ``However, when we said that we should go public on this issue, they asked us to keep it under the wraps for a year.’’

He said that the number of troops they wanted to pull out was about 12,000, but added that it is not fixed.

However, he said the announcement that the U.S. will shift 3,600 troops stationed here to Iraq had nothing to do with the overall withdrawal plan but rather indicated the tough situation facing the U.S. in Iraq.

The revelation of the U.S. plan Friday put President Roh Moo-hyun on the defensive, with critics claiming that his administration is alienating the U.S. at the risk of creating a security vacuum in dealing with North Korea.

Both Seoul and Washington set about trying to ease public concern, explaining that the U.S. troop reduction is being conducted within the context of the U.S. Global Defense Posture Review (GPR) and will not lead to any lapse in defense against the North. Also to be affected by the GPR are U.S. troops stationed in Japan and Europe.

A Chong Wa Dae official said the government has mapped out four principles to prevent possible economic and social instability, to maintain a deterrence capability in the event of aggression from the North and to sustain the alliance between Seoul and Washington.

Roh began to emphasize the need to ensure ``cooperative self-defense’’ in a speech during a ceremony marking the Armed Forces Day on October 1 last year.

In August, the government set up a committee headed by the prime minister to prepare for the possible troop reduction.

The issue of the troop reduction was first raised in the last stages of the former President Kim Dae-jung’s administration and it is not related to the U.S.’ attitude toward the Roh government, the official said.

jayshim@koreatimes.co.kr