hankyoreh

The U.S. Forces Korea (USFK) Tuesday confirmed a plan to reduce its troop level to 25,000 by the end of this year under a global scheme to reposition U.S. troops overseas.

The confirmation of the previously announced plan came in response to recent news reports claiming the U.S. had decided to freeze its troop level at the current 28,500. The news reports referred to recent remarks by U.S. Pacific Commander Adm. Timothy Keating and Gen. B. B. Bell, commander of U.S. Forces Korea.

There has been no proposal by Gen. Bell or any other United States government official to change the 2004 agreement on troop reductions between South Korea and the United States, Col.

Franklin Childress, public affairs officer of the USFK, said in a statement, adding the policy to reduce the troop level to 25,000 remains in effect.

"Any changes to our agreements would be the subject of formal consultations and would be announced jointly by both the United States and the Republic of Korea should a change be agreed upon," the USFK spokesman said, referring to South Korea by its official name.

Washington has maintained a military presence here as a deterrent against threats from communist North Korea since the end of the 1950-53 Korean War.

Gen. Bell, who also heads the South Korea-U.S. Combined Forces Command, said the erroneous attribution of statements to him was unfortunate, according to the statement.

"I invite the media and other interested parties to avoid speculating and publicly negotiating serious issues that affect the present and future of the ROK-U.S. alliance," he was quoted as saying.

SEOUL, Feb. 5 (Yonhap)