According to a CBO report to the U.S. Senate Budget Committee entitled " Options for Changing the Army's Overseas Basing" that has been released on the Internet, U.S. congressmen are now studying three plans. The first would keep see U.S. Army units station in Korea redeployed to rear areas while maintaining their current troop strength of 28,000. The second would see U.S. ground forces in Korea slashed to 13,000 men. The third calls for the almost complete withdrawal of 27,000 men, leaving behind only 1,000 U.S. ground troops in Korea.

The Senate Budget Committee said its consideration of such reports concentrated on analysis of the budgetary issues involved in the Bush administration and some congressmen's discussions on U.S. troop redeployments and reductions, the Munhwa Ilbo reported. Accordingly, it appears that the U.S. Defense Department and administration are exchanging information on shocking plans to cut the number of U.S. troops in Korea by half or to almost completely remove them.

According to the paper, the CBO said about the first plan that Korea and the U.S. are currently negotiating plans to move current U.S. bases in Korea to Camp Humphreys and Osan Air Base, but to maintain current troop levels at 28,000, it would require US$4 billion in new construction and perhaps an additional US$100 million to move units to their new facilities. The report said, "The Administration is still negotiating with the South Korean government about the specifics of the planned relocations, particularly that of Yongsan Garrison, so it is not clear how much of the relocation costs South Korea might bear. On the basis of previous cost-sharing agreements, CBO assumed that South Korea might pay up to 65 percent of the costs, meaning that U.S. costs for the construction in South Korea associated with this alternative would range from $1.4 billion to $4.0 billion."

According to the paper, the second plan "would move the 2nd Infantry Division and its units from South Korea to the United States and then rotate two BCTs (brigade combat teams) continuously back to South Korea." In this case, the CBO said, U.S. troops would be far from the DMZ, but in an emergency on the Korean Peninsula, the U.S. would have to deploy from Hawaii, and the it could take more than three weeks for the U.S. 25th Infantry Division to reinforce the brigades fighting in Korea.

Concerning its third plan to almost completely withdraw U.S. ground forces from Korea, the CBO said the proposal calls for the U.S. Army to leave only 1,000 men in Korea while withdrawing the rest. Afterwards, one combat brigade would be rotated in. The plan would lead to annual savings of US$175 million, but the cost of building bases in the U.S mainland would require an initial US$3.6 billion investment.

(englishnews@chosun.com )