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| President Moon Jae-in / Yonhap |
By Kim Rahn
President Moon Jae-in gave a warning, Wednesday, to his special adviser on security and unification Moon Chung-in over his claims that the U.S. would have to withdraw its troops from South Korea if a peace treaty was signed.
Expressing concern about his views, the President said the presence of the U.S. forces Korea (USFK) has nothing to do with signing a peace treaty, according to his spokesman Kim Eui-kyeom.
"President Moon made it clear that the presence of the U.S. troops here is a matter of the South Korea-U.S. alliance," Kim said.
The spokesman also said presidential chief of staff Im Jong-seok called Moon Chung-in and asked him not to make comments that could be misunderstood as the President's opinion.
In an op-ed article for the Foreign Affairs, Moon Chung-in wrote, "What will happen to U.S. forces in South Korea if a peace treaty is signed? It will be difficult to justify their continuing presence in South Korea after its adoption. But there will be a strong conservative opposition to the reduction and withdrawal of U.S. forces, posing a major political dilemma for Moon (Jae-in)."
This triggered a huge backlash from conservative politicians here. They urged President Moon to sack his adviser immediately.
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A Cheong Wa Dae official said, "We don't want unnecessary confusion to be created." He indicated the need for Seoul to take a cautious stance at a critical moment when the outcome of the inter-Korean summit should lead to the successful outcome of the upcoming Washington-Pyongyang summit for complete denuclearization of the peninsula.
After Kim Jong-un expressed his intention to discard his nuclear weapons, conservative politicians here and some Korea affairs experts abroad voiced the opinion that the North Korean leader may want the withdrawal of the USFK in return.
The official said Washington has not made any comment about the USFK issue. He added the leaders of the two Koreas also did not talk about this issue during their summit.
"We believe the USFK are needed (even after a peace treaty is signed) as a mediator in the military configuration of regional powers including China and Japan."
He added that Cheong Wa Dae is not considering stripping Moon Chung-in of his special adviser status.
This is not the first time the presidential office has given a warning to the adviser. Last June ahead of the President's first summit with U.S. President Donald Trump, he said in a seminar in Washington that the South Korea-U.S. joint military drills may be scaled down and the frequency of the dispatch of U.S. strategic assets to the peninsula may be reduced if North Korea stops its nuclear and missile programs.
At the time the presidential office told the adviser to refrain from making such comments, which it viewed would not help improve Seoul-Washington relations.
Despite the President's remarks, the opposition parties launched attacks on Moon Chung-in, calling on Moon Jae-in to fire him.
"The Panmunjeom Declaration seeks to realize a nuclear-free Korean Peninsula through complete denuclearization. Does that mean the withdrawal of the USFK and the U.S. nuclear umbrella provided for Seoul? President Moon must answer this question," main opposition Liberty Korea Party floor leader Kim Sung-tae said.
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