SKorea's Moon: US Troops Don't Have to Leave if NKorea Signs Peace Treaty

The United States would not have to remove troops stationed in South Korea if the country signs a peace treaty with North Korea, South Korea’s president said, Reuters reported.

"US Forces Korea (USFK) is a matter of the South Korea-U.S. alliance. It has nothing to do with signing a peace treaty," President Moon Jae-in said, referencing the agreement that stations 28,500 U.S. troops in South Korea.

A South Korean presidential adviser had written in Foreign Affairs magazine that "it would be difficult” to justify the U.S. staying in South Korea if a peace treaty is adopted with North Korea, but Kim Eui-kyeom, a spokesman for President Moon’s office, told the adviser “not to cause any more confusion," the report said.

South Korea wants U.S. troops to remain because they act as mediators in military confrontations between China and Japan, a presidential official told reporters on condition of anonymity, Reuters reported.

Removing the U.S. troops has been a longtime demand of North Korea, the report noted.

However, no mention was made of U.S. withdrawal when Moon met with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and pledged "complete denuclearization" of the Korean peninsula, Reuters reported.

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