3,600 U.S. troops move from S.korea to Iraq

8/2/2004 1:30:00 PM GMT
Source: Reuters

A brigade of 3,600 U.S. troops prepared Monday to depart for Iraq from their base near South Korea's border with communist North Korea, officials said.

There were no announcements for the troops’ replacement in South Korea, and it was not immediately clear if the move was part of U.S. plans for a global realignment of its troops. The former plan includes reducing the 37,500 troops in South Korea by a third.

Foreign media were invited to attend the departure ceremony for the 2nd Brigade of the U.S. 2nd Infantry Division at their base north of the South Korean capital, Seoul.

Under plans announced in May, the troops would be leaving "soon" for Iraq, a spokesman for the division said. He declined to give deployment details, citing security concerns.

The 2nd Infantry Division is a key combat component of the U.S. troop presence in South Korea under an alliance that dates back to the 1950-53 Korean War.

There are about two million U.S. troops deployed on the Korean peninsula, bisected by the Demilitarized Zone drawn up under a truce that suspended the Korean War.

North Korea's military is the world's fifth largest with about 1.1 million active forces.