S. Korea downplays USFK reduction talk after Trump’s troop cut hint in Germany

“U.S. President Donald Trump’s suggestion that American troop levels in Germany could be reduced is fueling speculation the move might extend to the Korean Peninsula. However, defense experts are not convinced the remarks will lead to troop cuts in South Korea, instead pointing to the peninsula’s growing strategic importance — as reflected in the U.S.' latest defense strategy aimed at countering China — and the likelihood of restructuring rather than a reduction. Some 28,500 U.S. troops are stationed across South Korea. On Wednesday (local time), Trump said on Truth Social that the United States is weighing a possible reduction of American troops in Germany, with a decision to be made over "the next short period of time," after he decried European allies over a lack of support for the U.S.-Israeli war against Iran. Lee Sang-kyu, chief of the nuclear security research division at the Korea Institute for Defense Analyses, said any meaningful change to U.S. Forces Korea (USFK) would require revisions to operational plans and mission objectives — neither of which appears to be under

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