One Thousand U.S. Marines based in Okinawa Receive Training in Korea

The Kyodo news agency reported, quoting information sources in Japan and the US, on August 24 that the U.S. will dispatch 1,000 Third Marine Division troops stationed in Okinawa, Japan to a newly constructed training camp in the southern part of Korea and train them regularly in order to fill up the power vacuum there followed by the reduction of the U.S. Forces in Korea.

In addition, the U.S. plans to remove 4,790 troops from Okinawa, which consists of about 27 percent of the current military strength of 17,700, until 2008 by redeploying 1,190 from the Okinawa Marine garrison to other Asian countries such as the Philippines in the long term, and by sending 2,600 to the Japan mainland.

However, Kyodo pointed out that this plan’s effectiveness is not clear as thousands of marines stationed in Okinawa have already been dispatched to Iraq or been arranged in other countries.

Meanwhile, Asahi reported on August 24 that the Japanese government decided to reserve its official answer to the U.S. about the U.S. troop rearrangement plan to send the army’s First Corps headquarters in Washington state to the Jama base on the Japan mainland.

This newspaper added that the U.S. might resist such reservation as the US proposed a rough agreement to Japan on the U.S. troop rearrangement plan before the presidential election in November.

Hun-Joo Cho hanscho@donga.com