by Dave Majumdar
As tensions with North Korea rise following Pyongyang’s alleged hydrogen bomb test, there is the specter of a renewed war on the peninsula.
In the years following the Korean Armistice Agreement in 1953—which ended the conflict in a ceasefire without formally terminating hostilities—the U.S. military was the guarantor of the Republic of Korea’s (ROK) security. More than sixty years later, United States Forces Korea (USFK)—ed by U.S. Army Gen. Curtis Scaparrotti—maintains a force of over 28,500 troops in South Korea to defend Seoul from Pyongyang’s depredations. But by-and-large, South Korea is defended by its own large, well-trained and well-equipped forces—albeit under U.S. command during times of war.
http://nationalinterest.org/blog/the-buzz/can-south-korea-fight-north-korea-without-america-14837
