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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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Civic groups call for deletion of certain terms
A ratification of the 10th Special Measures Agreement determining South Korea’s share of costs for stationing US Forces Korea passed the National Assembly. The SMA on defense cost sharing and its Implementation Arrangement both went into effect with the ratification. On Apr. 5, the National Assembly passed a ratification for the SMA during the final plenary meeting of its March extraordinary session. “Following the ratification, South Korea and the US provided mutual notification that the necessary domestic measures for [the agreement] to take effect had been completed,” a Ministry of Foreign Affairs senior official said. “In addition to the Special Measures Agreement, the Implementation Arrangement entered effect at the same time,” the official added. The 10th SMA, which went into effect that day, has an effective period of one year (2019). Two sides are to begin discussions on the 11th agreement as early as the first half of this year, with US demands for a large hike in South Korea’s share predicted to intensify. South Korea’s share of USFK stationing costs amounts to 1.04 trillion won (US$914.13 million), an increase of 8.2% from last year. During an Apr. 4 hearing ahead of the ratification, many critics argued that there were “insufficient grounds” for increasing the share, while warning of the possibility that the amount could be “diverted to operational support.” Park Jeong-eun, general secretary of the People’s Solidarity for Participatory Democracy, who attended the hearing to give a statement, stressed, “We need to demand the deletion of certain terms, such as the increase in the amount even though a substantial part of [South Korea’s previous cost sharing payments] have gone unused and the allocation of South Korean funds for temporarily stations oversea US troops in South Korea, even though no new provisions have been created for operation support [including costs for the deployment of strategic assets on the Korean Peninsula].” “We shouldn’t ratify it in its current state,” Park insisted. During the National Assembly review, it emerged that a total of over 5.4 trillion won (US$4.75 billion) was provided to USFK by South Korea in direct and indirect support in 2015, and that the currently unused amount stands at 1.33 trillion won (US$1.17 billion). By Kim Won-chul and Park Min-hee, staff reporters Please direct comments or questions to [english@hani.co.kr]
