BBC NEWS | World | Asia-Pacific | Bush 'optimistic' on N Korea diplomacy


This is new talk, AFAIK.

[...]The president's remarks come as the US discusses a possible redeployment of its troops stationed in South Korea, along the border with the North.


Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said the soldiers might be moved further south, or withdrawn from the country altogether.


"We still have a lot of forces in Korea arranged very far forward where it's intrusive in their lives and where they really aren't very flexible or usable for other things," Mr Rumsfeld said at a Pentagon meeting.


"Whether the forces will come home or whether they move further south of peninsula or whether to some neighbouring area are the kind of things that are being sorted out." [...]

Is this for real, or a little reverse sabre-rattling in the form of be careful what you wish for?


Update: More on this in The Independent: "The US strategy, analysts say, is to maintain its deterrent umbrella over South Korea, but from a longer range. A foretaste came yesterday with the arrival of a first batch of 24 B-1 and B-52 longer range bombers on the island of Guam, 2,000 miles from North Korean territory."


It's widely thought that the troops on the DMZ would be little more than a speed-bump and a bunch of hostages, anyway. Better to move them out of artillery range and in place for a counter-punch.