WASHINGTON — A House draft of a U.S. defense policy bill for fiscal year 2027 contains language tightening restrictions on the use of funds to reduce the number of American troops stationed in South Korea, its text showed Thursday. Released by House Armed Services Committee Chairman Rep. Mike Rogers (R-AL), the draft of the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) for the fiscal year running from October this year to September next year showed revised language related to maintaining 28,500 U.S. troops in South Korea. In the section on the oversight of U.S. military posture on the Korean Peninsula, this year’s version says that amounts authorized to be appropriated by the act may not be obligated or expended to reduce the number of U.S. troops in South Korea below 28,500. But the new draft says that none of the amounts, authorized to be appropriated by the act or “otherwise made available for fiscal years 2026 or 2027,” may be obligated or expended to curtail the number of American troops in South Korea below the current level. The change, if enforced, would restrict the use of federal
