US mulls pulling back military brigade from the foreign base: Report
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MOSCOW - The United States link is considering pulling out a considerable chunk of its military personnel from link South Korea link if the Asian link country refuses to increase spending on maintenance military bases by five times, Chosun Ilbo reported on Thursday.
"The US is preparing to withdraw one brigade if negotiations with South Korea link do not progress link according to President Donald Trump link hopes," a diplomatic Washington link source told the South Korean link newspaper.
The report comes days after talks on defense cooperation between the US and South Korea link were cut short for unspecified reasons, with neither side making any official comment on the matter.
The diplomatic source added that Trump link may link be looking for an excuse to pull US troops as part of a retrenchment of global domination.
Earlier reports suggested that the US has been waging a pressure campaign to force South Korea link and Japan link to increase expenditures on upkeep of military bases by up to 500 percent. In June link, US conservative hawk John Bolton visited the two allies while still serving as national security adviser, with reports claiming his demands were refused by both nations.
The US army link maintain over 28,000 troops in South Korea link and is obliged by law to keep at least 22,000 on the peninsula at all link times, which means some 6,000 soldiers may link be withdrawn from link bases.
