Karl Rove: It Would Be 'Foolish' to Pull Korean Peninsula Troops

It would be "foolish" and "a terrible move" for the United States to withdraw military troops from the Korean peninsula as part of any agreement with North Korea at a historic summit next week, GOP consultant and Fox News commentator Karl Rove said Thursday.

In remarks on Fox News' "The Daily Briefing," Rove said the Japanese are particularly worried about the upcoming meeting between President Donald Trump and North Korea’s leader Kim Jong Un.

"The Japanese are on the front line," he said. "They want denuclearization to happen but they don’t want it tied to withdrawal of U.S. troops . . . they're very nervous about this . . ."

Rove said the North Koreans will almost certainly bring up the topic at the June 12 meeting in Singapore.

But, he said, withdrawal or a reduction in troop numbers "will cause a real problem in the Pacific."

"It would be a terrible move to either withdraw entirely or dramatically reduce [U.S. troop]  presence," he said. "We would be foolish to withdraw U.S. troops precipitously."

Rove also said he hoped human rights would be on the table at the summit because "the U.S. should never find a moment where it doesn't talk about this," noting the "tens of thousands of political prisoners" in the North is something "we ought to be talking about."

And he characterized a possible peace between North and South Korea as one that would likely be "a symbolic move," though "it would be nice to have armistice ended with a formal recognition of peace."

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