ABSTRACT
This chapter examines the warfighters' case for opposing US troop withdrawals from Korea. Many Korea observers hailed the pact as a watershed event signaling a decline of the North Korean threat to US interests. The December 12, 1991, agreement is a sweeping document, which Koreans on both sides of the demilitarized zone have hailed as the first step toward reunification. Inter-Korean travel, postal and telecommunications services, and rail and road links were to be established to promote family, cultural, and economic contacts. US warfighters in Korea are convinced Pyongyang's primary objective remains unchanged: reunification of the Korean peninsula under Communist rule. A look at the military balance on the peninsula and North Korea's nuclear research program suggests the assessment is accurate. Pyongyang discarded its assertion that the Republic of Korea is a mere junior US partner and only a peace treaty with the United States can end the Korean War.
