US Democratic presidential nominee John Kerry has criticized President Bush's plan to reduce US troops based in Europe and Asia as a "wrong signal to send at the wrong time."

In a speech to a convention of the Veterans of Foreign Wars in Cincinnati, Ohio, Kerry said such a large-scale redeployment of American troops could impair the nation's security" and hamper the campaign against terrorism.

As the most significant rearrangement of US troops since the early days of the cold war, Kerry said he was particularly concerned about cutting troop levels in South Korea.

He wondered why the US withdraws troops from the Korean Peninsula when they are negotiating with DPRK.

Bush unveiled the redeployment plan that the United States would withdraw 60,000 to 70,000 troops over the next decade from Europe and Asia to create a more flexible military.

Both Kerry and Bush went to Ohio, a battleground state for both presidential campaigns, to talk to the veterans, an important constituency in this election, to try to win their votes.

Source: CRIENGLISH.com