S Korean President Dismisses US Troop withdrawal

Seoul [South Korea], May 2 (ANI): South Korean President Moon Jae In has dismissed the idea of withdrawing US troops from the country if a peace treaty were to be signed to formally end the Korean War.

The issue has nothing to do with North Korea, but only with the Korea-U.S. alliance, he added, as per Yonhap news agency report.

"U.S. Forces Korea (USFK) is a matter of the South Korea-U.S. alliance. It has nothing to do with signing a peace treaty," the president said, according to his spokesman Kim Eui-kyeom.

An official from the presidential office, Cheong Wa Dae earlier dismissed the possibility, highlighting the role of USFK as a mediator between neighbouring superpowers like China and Japan.

Currently, around 28,500 U.S. troops are stationed in South Korea. American soldiers are maintained there since the end of the Korean War in an armistice that left the two Koreas technically still at war.

In a landmark summit on Friday, Moon and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un agreed to push for a peace treaty which would end the 1950-53 Korean War formally.

Many countries such as China, Russia and Japan and the United Nations (UN) have praised the outcome and positivity of the successful summit. They hoped for ending of hostilities and pressing for peace, denuclearisation and reconciliation of the Korean Peninsula. (ANI)