The U.S. is mulling withdrawing thousands of troops from South Korea, according to a Wall Street Journal report.
Newsweek reached out to the Pentagon and South Korean embassy in the U.S. with emailed requests for comment.
Why It Matters
It would mark the first such drawdown since 2008, when Washington redeployed 12,500 troops from what was then a 40,000-strong U.S. Forces Korea.
South Korea hosts the third-largest number of American troops outside the U.S.—after Japan and Germany—stationed there to help defend Seoul against threats from nuclear-armed North Korea and support regional efforts to counter an increasingly assertive China.
With North-South relations at their most fraught in decades, military officials have warned a reduction could impact U.S. and allied capabilities in a conflict with Kim Jong Un‘s regime.
Marines from the U.S. and South Korea prepare to raid a building during a training exercise at the Rodriguez Live Fire Complex in South Korea on March 12, 2025.
Marines from the U.S. and South Korea prepare to raid a building during a training exercise at the Rodriguez Live Fire Complex in South Korea on March 12, 2025.
Lance Thomas Vu/U.S. Marine Corps
What To Know
Members of the Trump administration have proposed redeploying some 4,500 troops from South Korea to U.S. bases in the Indo-Pacific region, such as in Guam, the WSJ reported, citing two Pentagon officials familiar with the discussions.
The officials said the proposal had not yet been brought before President Donald Trump and was still being prepared as part of an informal review of North Korea policy.
There were 26,556 U.S. military personnel and Department of Defense civilians stationed in South Korea as of December 2024, according to the Pentagon’s Defense Manpower Data Center.
A Department of Defense spokesperson told the newspaper there were no policy announcements to be made on the matter. National Security Council spokesperson Pete Nguyen declined to comment on the potential withdrawal but said the president remains committed to North Korea’s “complete denuclearization.”
Trump has reportedly floated the idea of reducing the U.S. military footprint in South Korea since his first term. In the lead-up to the 2024 presidential election, he complained that South Korea was not paying enough for the deployment of American troops.
South Korea’s defense ministry told Reuters there have been no discussions with the U.S. regarding a troop withdrawal.
The WSJ report comes amid flaring tensions on the Korean Peninsula.
The North continues to press forward with its nuclear weapons and ballistic missile programs, and last year formally abandoned its longstanding policy of eventual reunification with the South. Kim Jong Un’s deployment of thousands of troops to support Russia’s war in Ukraine has further stoked tensions.
What People Are Saying
Sean King, Asia scholar and senior vice president of New York-based consultancy Park Strategies, told Newsweek: “I’m all for the U.S. defending Guam as best we can and for holding the line on the Second Island Chain, but let’s hope that doesn’t come at the expense of South Korea’s defense.”
What’s Next
It remains to be seen whether Trump will order a significant redeployment of troops.
At an April 10 Senate Armed Services Committee hearing, Indo-Pacific Command chief Admiral Samuel Paparo said that reducing the U.S. troop presence in South Korea would “inherently…reduce our ability to prevail in conflict.”
Army Gen. Xavier Brunson, commander of U.S. Forces Korea, said such a move would be “problematic.”