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Yonsei University professor Moon Chung-in, head of the Presidential Committee on Northeast Asian Cooperation Initiative, said Friday that while USFK reductions were primarily the result of changes in U.S. global strategy following the Sept. 11 attacks, small mistakes on Korea's part like anti-American demonstrations moved up the timing of those reductions.
Speaking at a monthly breakfast held by the International Management Institute, Moon said that on Dec. 30 of last year, U.S. NBC News broadcasted a 3-5 second scene of a U.S. military policeman at the Yongsan Garrison bleeding after he had been hit by a rock thrown by a Korean university student. After watching this scene, U.S. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld became enraged and ordered USFK to be removed immediately.
Moon said there was discussion of reducing U.S. ground forces due to changes in U.S. global strategy, but he could say with certainty that the date was moved up due to slight mistakes on the part of Koreans, and he had experienced this personally. On unofficial occasions, Moon relayed an anecdote he had heard in which Rumsfeld, as soon as he saw the scene on NBC News, said, "God damn it! Get them out!"
(Lee Ha-won, may2@chosun.com )
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