U.S. says no plan to withdraw Apaches in foreseeable future

By Sam Kim
SEOUL, Aug. 3 (Yonhap) -- The U.S. military said Monday it is unaware of any plan
to withdraw its entire fleet of attack helicopters from South Korea in "the
foreseeable future."
The statement by the U.S. Forces Korea (USFK) and the Eighth United States Army
(EUSA) came after local media reports that the U.S. could pull out the Apaches
here over the next several years.
The U.S. has withdrawn two of three Apache battalions from South Korea in recent
years. About 28,500 U.S. troops are stationed here as a deterrent against North
Korea -- a legacy of the 1950-53 Korean War that ended in a truce rather than a
peace treaty.
"The Apache battalion will remain on the Korean Peninsula for the foreseeable
future. USFK and EUSA know of no plan for their departure," the two top military
commands said in a release.
The media reports had said South Korea would launch an attack helicopter brigade
to fill the void after the U.S. possibly withdraws its Apaches from South Korea
by the end of 2012.
South Korea is scheduled to receive the wartime control over its troops from the
U.S. in April 2012. The control was relinquished to the U.S. at the beginning of
the Korean War along with the peacetime control, which was returned in 1994.
If formed, the South Korean unit would be made of helicopters either purchased
from the U.S. or indigenously developed, the reports said, quoting an unnamed
source.
South Korea has long considered building its own attack helicopters, but the plan
has been in a limbo due to costs and technical barriers.
samkim@yna.co.kr
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