Jared Moya
August 28th, 2006, 09:15 AM
FORT GREELY, Alaska - In unusually blunt terms, Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld said decades-old U.S. ally South Korea need not fear communist North Korea as an immediate military threat.
At a news conference at this missile defense base south of Fairbanks, Rumsfeld said Sunday that North Korea is a serious threat to spread ballistic missiles and other dangerous technologies around the world. But he made plain that he sees the North's conventional military strength eroding as its economy crumbles.
"I don't see them, frankly, as an immediate military threat to South Korea," he said.
His comment could be interpreted as an effort to build a rhetorical case for further reductions in U.S. troop levels in South Korea, already scheduled to be cut from 32,500 to 20,000 over the next few years. U.S. troops also are moving farther away from the Demilitarized Zone that separates North and South Korea, and Rumsfeld has sought to use Korea-based troops in missions outside Asia.
The South Korean government fears a too-rapid reduction in U.S. military support, which it has relied on for more than half a century since the Korean War ended in a cease-fire instead of a peace treaty.
Rumsfeld was at Fort Greely for his first look at the interceptor missiles that are poised in underground silos here as part of a system designed mainly to defend against a potential North Korean missile attack. He climbed down into one silo and got briefings on how the system is being improved.
Ten interceptors are emplaced in silos at Greely and an 11th was scheduled to be installed Monday.
Rumsfeld often accuses North Korea of posing a threat with missiles capable of reaching Japan and possibly parts of the United States. But he has rarely offered such a skeptical assessment of the North's overall military power.
"I think the real threat that North Korea poses in the immediate future is more one of proliferation than a danger to South Korea," he said, adding that the North Koreans for years have sold ballistic missile technologies to Iran and unspecified other countries - "mostly terrorist countries."
http://www.military.com/NewsContent/0,13319,111503,00.html
At a news conference at this missile defense base south of Fairbanks, Rumsfeld said Sunday that North Korea is a serious threat to spread ballistic missiles and other dangerous technologies around the world. But he made plain that he sees the North's conventional military strength eroding as its economy crumbles.
"I don't see them, frankly, as an immediate military threat to South Korea," he said.
His comment could be interpreted as an effort to build a rhetorical case for further reductions in U.S. troop levels in South Korea, already scheduled to be cut from 32,500 to 20,000 over the next few years. U.S. troops also are moving farther away from the Demilitarized Zone that separates North and South Korea, and Rumsfeld has sought to use Korea-based troops in missions outside Asia.
The South Korean government fears a too-rapid reduction in U.S. military support, which it has relied on for more than half a century since the Korean War ended in a cease-fire instead of a peace treaty.
Rumsfeld was at Fort Greely for his first look at the interceptor missiles that are poised in underground silos here as part of a system designed mainly to defend against a potential North Korean missile attack. He climbed down into one silo and got briefings on how the system is being improved.
Ten interceptors are emplaced in silos at Greely and an 11th was scheduled to be installed Monday.
Rumsfeld often accuses North Korea of posing a threat with missiles capable of reaching Japan and possibly parts of the United States. But he has rarely offered such a skeptical assessment of the North's overall military power.
"I think the real threat that North Korea poses in the immediate future is more one of proliferation than a danger to South Korea," he said, adding that the North Koreans for years have sold ballistic missile technologies to Iran and unspecified other countries - "mostly terrorist countries."
http://www.military.com/NewsContent/0,13319,111503,00.html