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A photograph released by the US State Department’s Bureau of Political-Military Affairs Twitter account (@StateDeptPM) on July 19. Chang Won-sam, the South Korean Ministry of Foreign Affairs’ envoy to the ROK-US cost-sharing talks, shakes hands with his US counterpart Timothy Betts.
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Washington has asked Seoul for additional category of operational support
The Hankyoreh confirmed that the US has asked for the addition of a category about operational support in South Korea and the US’s defense cost-sharing agreement (called the ROK-US Special Measures Agreement, or SMA) and for South Korea to share the burden of deploying American strategic weapons to the Korean Peninsula. When asked about the fifth round of negotiations for the 10th SMA that took place at Joint Base Lewis-McChord near Seattle on July 18 and 19, a senior official from South Korea’s Foreign Ministry said on July 24 that the Americans had asked for “the addition of a category about operational support” which includes “the cost of deploying strategic assets.” According to the cost-sharing agreement, South Korea covers parts of the financial burden of stationing American troops in the country, including the payroll cost of South Korean workers hired by US Forces Korea (USFK), the cost of facilities used by USFK and armament support, which includes storing USFK ammunition. The proposal submitted by American negotiators at the beginning of talks for the 10th version of the agreement reportedly calls for the addition of a new category that would constitute a major increase in South Korea’s share of the burden. Considering the changes in inter-Korean relations and North Korea-US relations since the inter-Korean summit on Apr. 27 and the North Korea-US summit in Singapore on June 12, there had been speculation that the US might drop its demand for Seoul to cover the cost of deploying strategic assets, but the US is reportedly insisting on the demand given what it regards as the “fluid situation on the Korean Peninsula.” American officials reportedly said they had chosen Joint Base Lewis-McChord, near Tacoma, Washington, as the site of the meeting because that is the focal point of the military forces that would be dispatched from the US mainland in the event of a crisis on the Korean Peninsula. After the fifth round of negotiations was wrapped up on July 19, the US State Department’s Bureau of Political-Military Affairs posted a photo of a handshake between Chang Won-sam, the South Korean Foreign Ministry’s envoy to the cost-sharing talks, and Timothy Betts, his counterpart at the US State Department, while tweeting that this “[r]ound highlights the newly proposed Operational Support category by showcasing [Joint Base Lewis-McChord] units supporting” USFK, the US Embassy in Seoul and the Bureau of East Asian and Pacific Affairs. “We maintain that we cannot accept the idea of adding a category for operational expenses, the official from the Foreign Ministry said in regard to the US’s aggressive demand. “Our position is that covering the cost for a new category is fundamentally unacceptable.” South Korea is the first country that the US has asked to cover this kind of cost, and these negotiations are likely to have an impact on cost-sharing negotiations in other countries such as Japan where American troops are stationed. During this round of negotiations, the two sides reportedly once again failed to narrow their differences about the total amount to be covered by the cost-sharing agreement. “A little more time will be needed to get the two sides on the same page about the amount,” the Foreign Ministry official said. “Since [the Americans] are asking for a substantial amount that’s unacceptable to us, we’re expressing our view that this is unacceptable.” This year, the South Korean government was responsible for covering around 960.2 billion won (US$850.77 million) the defense burden, under the 9th SMA, which was signed in 2014 and will become invalid this Dec. 31. By Kim Ji-eun, staff reporter Please direct comments or questions to [english@hani.co.kr]
