Why are there so many US troops in South Korea and Japan? ?

Question

According the the article on the linked website, it says there are more troops in South Korea than Afghanistan. What for?

"The Army's commitments include about 130,000 troops in Iraq, 11,000 in Kuwait, 11,500 in Afghanistan, 37,500 in South Korea and 44,000 in Japan."

http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2004-01-05-army-troops_x.htm

Answer 1

Those in South Korea are part of UN Command (Forward) organized under a Security Council Resolution passed in July of 1950 to counter aggression on the Korean Peninsula as a Peace Enforcement Mission under Chapter Seven (Peace Enforcement) of the UN Charter. Most of those in Japan are part of UN Command (Rear) for that Peace Enforcement Mission. Those U.S. troops were part of our commitment in compliance with the spirit of Article 45 of the UN Charter and the UN Support Act of 1947.

All that resulted in 1953, after three years of conflict on the peninsula, was a cease fire in place called an armistice. Since then there have been continuous meetings at a village named Panmunjon on the border between North and South Korea to arrive at a settlement which would meet the objectives of that Security Council Resolution.

Answer 2

The USMC 3ed marine division is based in Japan.

Answer 3

You are a sorry example of the state of public education.

In August 1945 the USSR made a grab for the Korean peninsula in the wake of WWII.  Just as the grabbed all of eastern Europe and turned them into puppet states.

The US quickly responded with a force that stopped the Soviet advance around teh 38th parallel.  The country was then partitioned into Communist North Korea and the free Republic of (South) Korea.

That lasted until the summer of 1950 when the North Korean Peoples Army invaded the south.  The United States (with support from 16 other UN countries) blocked the aggression and tossed the NKPA back to the Yalu and was on the verge of liberating North Korea from the communist yoke when the Communist Chinese Peoples Liberation Army 'deserted' en mass and crossed the Yalu to help their NKPA comrads.

The US beat the ChiComs to a stalemate and the unpopular war was ended where it began -- with a communist north and a free south -- in 1953.  Since then, the US has guaranteed the 38th parallel against additional communist aggression.

As for Japan, the story is similar to that of Germany.  After beating both of those aggressors in WWII, the United States agreed to guarantee their borders in exchange for them only having a very limited military capacity for home defense.

FWIW, the articles author, Tom Squitieri of USA TODAY, is equally clueless.  The Army does not have a commitment of 44,000 troops  in Japan -- they have only about 1,500 troops there.  The 44,000 is the entire US Military commitment, including the Navy Fleet based there and the Marine Division based there.

The article blurs many lines about who is 'stop-lossed' and source of the numbers are questionable, as I pointed out.  The Navy and Air Force have no need for stop-loss, yet their commitments are included to make the numbers look worse for the Army.

And the article ignores the fact that brigades from Korea, Japan and Germany have been rotated into Iraq and Afghanistan.  They are not really such a drag, just a place to keep troops.

The bottom line is that most stop-loss is just unit stabilization for an upcoming rotation.  Not some back-door draft like the clueless media would have you believe.

Answer 4

because of north korea, and china if it decides to reclaim taiwan.and to show US supremacy in the far east that has not been seriously challenged by one country since WW2

Answer 5

South Korea is primarily because a state of war technically still exists with North Korea. The number of troops in South Korea has been reduced over recent years.

Japan has to do with it being traditionally the US base in the western Pacific for forward deployed troops and treaty obligations after the Second World War that restricted the size of the Japanese military in return for a strong US presence in the nation.

Answer 6

Japan is used as a jump off point for a potential hot LZ in Asia. South Korea is basically to keep the North Koreans from invading.

Answer 7

UGHHH, because this is where we have our forward units permanently stationed..From those locations we guard the entire pacific theater..

Bottom line is that we have to keep our troops somewhere..

Answer 8

That is a mix of Army, Navy, Air Force and Marines, listed by headcount. Kuwait and Japan have a mix of branches in that count. You forgot Germany, Eastern Europe, Great Britain, Spain, Italy, The Azores, Gitmo, Columbia, Guam, Alaska.

That leaves 1,042,000 active "troops" available. Add the Reserve and Guard headcount that leaves about 2,000,000 available.

Lets get real picky though. The Militia (unorganized) of The United States consists of all able bodied men 17-45. Add to that all us old farts that were "in" once upon a time up to the age of 64 and you have the reason the 2nd Amendment has not been swept under the rug yet. It's in Title 10 of US Code. You do know what US Code is????....right????

Fear not young man! By the time you turn 18 some of this will start becoming more clear. You will be better seasoned, hopefully better educated and a little more "worldy".

I still owe you the answer don't I!

The term, it's already been used is, Forward Deployed.

   1 Aircraft Carrier Battle Group, Japan

   1 or 2 Forward Brigades of the 2nd ID. Korea

   3 Brigades of the 25th ID in HI

   1 Airborne Bridgade (4th) of the 25th in Alaska

   1 Airborne Brigade, Italy. 173rd Sky Soldiers. The only combat jumps in Viet Nam and Iraq

   1st Armored Division. Germany

   1st Infantry Division, Germany

   Air Force, Japan, Guam, Spain, Azores, Italy, Germany, Great Britain (for now)

Now you have even more to complain about!

1 big change from the Cold War is we have pulled 1 Armored Division, 1 Infantry Division and the tacticle nukes (artillary) from Germany.

SSG US Army 73-82

Answer 9

North Korea, part of what George Bush called ``the axis of evil'' with Iraq and Iran, has long been considered a potential warmonger. US troops fought North Korean and Chinese forces in the Korean war, and China is still a North Korean ally.

US troops in Japan are not just on standby for Korea, as with all American forces in Asia (there was previously a big base in the Philippines) they provide what US allies consider a `security umbrella' which shielded them first from the Soviet Union, and now, in a way, from a possible threat from China.

American commercial interests in Asia, as in Europe where US troops are still based, are deep and longstanding of course.