The US plans to boost its military capability on the Korean Peninsula over the next four years -- and it will make a concerted effort to strengthen its security alliance with South Korea, said US Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld.
He did not offer any specifics. But addressing the US-Korean Business Council, Rumsfeld on Tuesday expressed confidence that the hardline communist regime holding power in North Korea will eventually collapse, and the country will join the ranks of democratic societies.
"While the situation in North Korea sometimes looks bleak, I'm convinced that one day freedom will come to the people of the North and light up that oppressed land with hope and with promise," the defense secretary said.
However, he stressed that in the interim, the US and South Korea must continue to build on their strong relationship and make efforts to strengthen regional security.
"Over the next four years, the United States has plans to make a substantial investment in the alliance, strengthening more than 150 of our various military capabilities," Rumsfeld said without elaborating.
He added that the administration of US President George W. Bush had been assured that South Korea "will complement those investments with improved capabilities of their own."
The US military is reorganizing its posture in South Korea, pulling key units away from the Demilitarized Zone where they could be vulnerable to a surprise artillery strike from the North, and consolidating its 37,000-strong force around several key hubs farther south.
The redeployment is seen as a prudent move since North Korea keeps more than 60 percent of its 1.2-million-strong army within 100km of the border, according to defense officials.
In his address, Rumsfeld said that while the size and shape of the US footprint in the the region might evolve, US determination to defend the region will not wane.
"There certainly would be no change at all in our commitment to the defense of South Korea and just let there be no doubt about that," he stated.
"Our goal is to reinforce deterrence and to position the alliance for the period ahead," he added.
The 37,000 US troops stationed in South Korea are meant to compliment the South Korean military that numbers 650,000.
According to US Congressional Research Service, the US deployment in the Korean Peninsula costs US$3 billion annually, only a fraction of which is assumed by South Korea.
Seoul's direct financial contribution in support of the US force rose from US$399 million in 2000 to US$490 million last year, the service pointed out.
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