It remains unclear what last night’s political upheaval in South Korea will mean for the country and region. Six opposition parties have submitted a motion to impeach President Yoon Suk Yeol after he called for martial law and then rescinded the order. According to the Washington Post, Yoon’s televised announcement came as a surprise to the U.S. administration, with the Pentagon having since declared that it “had nothing to do with events there.”
The U.S. has a heavy military presence in South Korea, including both personnel and weapons. The base is considered tactically important, both from the U.S. side, as it gives the country influence in the region, as well as for Korea, in terms of having a strong deterrence to nuclear-armed North Korea.
According to data from the Defense Manpower Data Center, South Korea has the third highest number of active U.S. troops deployed of any country outside of the contiguous U.S., at over 23,000 personnel. It follows only after Japan (52,852) and Germany (34,894). As of June 2024, there are 165,830 active personnel overseas, rising to 1,294,191 active personnel when including those in the U.S.
This latter figure includes the Army, Navy, Marine Corps, Air Force, Space Force and Coast Guard. It also includes personnel who are assigned to the State Department and embassies overseas, while it excludes personnel on temporary duty and those deployed in support of contingency operations.
As this infographic shows, when every single country with some kind of U.S military presence is taken into account, nearly every nation on the map needs to be highlighted. In 140 of the 170 countries marked here though, there are between one and 100 active personnel listed.
According to Global Fire Power, the U.S. has the third largest number of active-duty troops (1.3 million) of any military worldwide in 2024, trailing China (2 million) and India (1.5 million).
