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South Korean Foreign Minister Kang Kyung-wha and US Ambassador to South Korea Harry Harris sign a South Korea-US defense cost-sharing agreement at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Mar. 8. (Yonhap News)
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Trump is considering appropriating base’s funds to build Mexico border wall
Lately, many eyes are on Command Post Tango, which is one of the military facilities whose funding US President Donald Trump is considering appropriating to build a wall on the US border with Mexico. Located in Seongnam, Gyeonggi Province, Command Post Tango would be the wartime command base for the ROK-US Combined Forces Command. Since South Korea and the US have agreed to the joint use of this facility, the question of whether South Korea will have to foot the bill could come up in the two countries’ deliberations. “South Korea and the US have agreed to share the use of this facility and to hold related discussions, but other priorities have kept us from getting into the details. We still haven’t decided what format the deliberations will take or who they’ll be conducted by,” an official from South Korea’s Ministry of National Defense (MND) said on Mar. 27. This is taken to mean that meaningful discussion hasn’t taken place because of continuing uncertainty about the timeframe of the handover of wartime operational control, or OPCON, of South Korean forces. If South Korea and the US share the use of Command Post Tango, Korea is likely to be asked to cover part of the cost. Trump has reportedly been considering a “cost plus 50” formula, by which countries hosting US troops would be forced to pay the entire cost of stationing the troops there along with 50% extra. While the US has officially denied this plan, Trump seems determined to shift the cost of stationing American troops onto the host countries. Tough pressure is also expected from the US in its negotiations with South Korea next year about their defense cost-sharing agreement. Built in the 1970s, Command Post Tango is the place that would serve as the brains of ROK-US Combined Forces Command if a war were to break out. The base is built with steel-reinforced concrete that’s tough enough to withstand a nuclear strike. The mazelike interior includes meeting rooms, a mess hall, an infirmary and plumbing. The base was reportedly designed for its staff to survive for two months without any help from the outside. The US has been spending a considerable amount of money on the upkeep of this facility. If South Korea were to share the cost as part of joint usage of the facility, it would bring the US considerable savings on its defense budget. The savings here could then be used for other purposes. Such circumstances seem to be related to the base’s identification as one of the military facilities for which funding the Trump administration has recently been considering rerouting toward the construction of the wall on the Mexican border. By Yoo Kang-moon, senior staff writer Please direct comments or questions to [english@hani.co.kr]
