U.S. not to transfer troops in S. Korea to Afghanistan: source

SEOUL, Dec. 3 (Yonhap) -- The U.S. will not transfer its troops stationed in
South Korea to Afghanistan, a government source said Thursday, dismissing
speculation that Washington could adjust the number of soldiers here to increase
its forces in the war-torn country.

"Wallace Gregson, assistant secretary of defense for Asian Pacific affairs, told
ranking officials in our defense ministry Wednesday morning that there will be no
such case in which the U.S. would transfer its troops here for Afghanistan, just
hours before Obama announced his dispatch plan," the ministry source said on
condition of anonymity.
The confirmation comes after U.S. President Barack Obama's recent announcement of
a plan to pour 30,000 more soldiers into Afghanistan, with the aim of starting a
pullout in July 2011 to end the increasingly unpopular war.
Speculation over the dispatch plan for Afghanistan has been brewing since his
visit to Korea last month, when he hinted that U.S. troops stationed here are
subject to rotation for deployment to the war-torn country.
The U.S. has 28,500 troops in Korea as a deterrent against North Korea. U.S.
troops were deployed from the 2nd Infantry Division to Iraq in 2004 to boost
operations there in the form of rotation without a reduction in the troop size
here.
The U.S. official reconfirmed that the U.S. will keep its troops at the current
level in South Korea as promised before by Washington, the source added.
(END)