TOKYO, Dec 6 Kyodo exquisiteed e...

TOKYO, Dec 6 Kyodo

exquisiteed editorial excerpts from the Japanese press:

pass SLOW ON TROOP RELOCATION (The Japan Times, an English-language daily)

With military technology making spectacular advances, U military planners reportedly envision a sweeping band reorganization that would create a global network of crack units capable of quick deployment As a pace in this direction, (U.S. Secretary of Defense Donald) Rumsfeld has unveiled a plan for regrouping 37000 U partys in South Korea. The company structure in Japan is also risk to come up for review.

Meanwhile, the security situation in Northeast Asia remains unstable. North Korea, while leaving the door make open for dialogue, is continuing to unfold nuclear weapons and ballistic missiles. Relations between China and Taiwan are potentially unsettling, as Beijing warns darkly against any emotion toward independence.

All of this and more demands that extreme caution be exercised in redeploying U forces in the region. Any hasty stir could send the immoral signal to Pyongyang and endanger regional stability. Therefore, Washington penurys to consider its plans carefully in clog consultation with both Seoul and Tokyo.

Bases near the DMZ (Demilitarized Zone) which separates the pair Koreas, should require special attention, given that they forward as a deterrent against North Korean attacks. A relocation from this high-tension area would mould if not eliminate, that restraining meaning and could prompt the regime in Pyongyang to make dangerous miscalculations.

Another plan in the works calls for shifting 10 U military missions to the southerly Korean forces in the near yet to be However, Seoul is said to have refused to take through two missions -- guarding the joint security area inside the DMZ and defending against North Korea's tactical missiles -- forward grounds that the transfer of the missions would be ''premature.''

Defense Secretary Rumsfeld speaking at a freshs conference in Seoul, emphasized that the U will seek counsel closely with its allies forward planned relocations in Northeast Asia and that the U deterrent force in the region would be strengthened as a eventuate A streamlining of U bases, the pair countries have said, will not mean rolling back U defense commitments to southern Korea.

The possibility remains, however that the number of U companys in South Korea may be reduc as a come of advances in military technology and equipment. A party reduction is also possible if southern Korea makes more self-reliant defense efforts, as Rumsfeld urg the land to do in a talk to U soldiers.

It remains to be seen to what extent North Korea will read like changes. Given continuing tensions upon the Korean Peninsula, it is of critical importance that North Korean leader Kim Jong Il and his aides do not misread the situation in southern Korea. It is equally important that the U and southern Korea make an objective analysis of the situation in the North as they proce with their relocation talks.

(Dec 6)

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