Carter Cuts Total of U.S. Troops To Leave South Korea This Year

WASHINGTON, April 21—President Carter announced tonight that he would reduce by two‐thirds the number of American combat troops scheduled to be withdrawn this year from South Korea. He cited as the reason Congressional inaction on a compensatory aid package for the Seoul Government.

One American combat battalion of about 800 men and 2,600 support personnel will be withdrawn this year, but the two other combat. battalions that were scheduled to be pulled out will remain until next year.

The Administration's move was an implicit acknowledgement that Congress was unlikely to authorize its proposed transfer of $800 million in American military equipment to South Korean forces, a transfer intended to offset the impact of the pullout of United States troops.

A statement by the White House this evening acknowledged that “because of thu crowded legislative calendar and other matters concerning Korea,” Congress might not authorize the transfer this session. In light of that, Mr. Carter said in the statement, he had decided it would be “prudent” to postpone twothirds of the scheduled withdrawal.

A senior Administration official conceded later that the “other matters concerning Korea,” included the growing Congressional sensitivity to providing funds for Korea in the midst of the con- tinuing Korean influence‐peddling scandal.

The $800 million package was also opposed by members of Congress objecting in general to the Administration's Korean pullout strategy.

Despite the timing of the announcement, the Administration official stressed that the statement was in no way related to the forced landing of a South Korean jetliner in the Soviet Union yesterday. Nor was it related, he said, to any military crisis in Korea or elsewhere in Asia.

Last year, President Carter announced that he planned to withdraw the 32,000 American combat troops in South Korea over a period of four to five years. At the same time, he pledged to increase the Air Force units there. This part of the plan will proceed, Administration officials said, with 12 F‐4 fighters being added by the end of the year to the 62 already there.

The $800 million arms transfer package is a crucial ingredient in the withdrawal strategy because the Joint Chiefs of Staff based their approval of the withdrawal plan on the explicit understanding that compensatory aid would be provided to bolster South Korean armed forces. When it became clear in recent weeks that Congress might not approve the package this year, the Administration was faced with the prospect of losing the Joint Chiefs’ endorsement if it proceeded with the scheduled pullout.

Representative Clement J. Zablocki. Democrat of Wisconsin, who is chairman of the House International Relations Committee. said tonight that the transfer could not have been authorized in light of “the present climate in Congress on Korea.”

He added that he was “hopeful” the House would eventually authorize the transfer but “it certainly won't happen in the next two or three weeks,” he said.

Among other things. he continued the authorization had been jeopardized by “the entire cloud of alleged improprieties by the Korean government.”

Senator Henry M. Jackson, Democrat of Washington, who has opposed the withdrawal plan from the beginning, applauded the decision. He called it a “step in the right direction” and said he hoped it would “lead to a rethinking of the Administration's original decision.”

Administration officials insisted, however, that the plan to phase out the American combat presence in South Korea was cnly being delayed. “The President is still committed to proceed with the withdrawal at a later date,” high official said.

Altogether, there are about 32.000 American ground troops and 7,000 Air Force personnel in South Korea. In view of the current postponement, withdrawal could not be completed before the early 1980's.