Democratic White House hopeful John Kerry warned Wednesday that President George W. Bush's plan to bring home up to 70,000 troops from Europe and Asia would hurt the war on terrorism and embolden North Korea.
"Nobody wants to bring troops home more than those of us who have fought in foreign wars, but it needs to be done at the right time and in a sensible way. This is not that time or that way," Kerry, a decorated Vietnam War veteran, said in a speech to the Veterans of Foreign Wars (VFW).
"This hastily announced plan raises more doubts about our intentions and our commitments than it provides real answers," Kerry told the organisation, which groups some 2.6 million members at about 9,000 posts world-wide.
Bush unveiled the proposal on Monday when he addressed the same annual convention of the VFW here in Ohio, a crucial battleground state in the November 2 election, coupling it with attacks on Kerry's national security credibility.
The two candidates have been warring over who would make the better commander-in-chief, a reflection of the importance of national security as a political issue since the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.
Kerry, a senator from the state of Massachusetts, argued that reducing US forces from South Korea would reduce Washington's leverage with Pyongyang in six-way talks to defuse the crisis over the Stalinist state's nuclear programs.
"Why are we unilaterally withdrawing 12,000 troops from the Korean Peninsula at the very time we are negotiating with North Korea - a country that really has nuclear weapons?
"North Korea has probably never been more dangerous than any time since the end of the Korean War. This is clearly the wrong signal to send at the wrong time," said Kerry.