Kang Seung-woo is the Business Desk editor at The Korea Times. Prior to this position, he covered politics, national affairs, finance and sports.
ROK-US defense cost-sharing talks remain at standstill
Military choppers are parked at U.S. Army Garrison Humphreys in Pyeongtaek, Gyeonggi Province, Wednesday. / Yonhap
By Kang Seung-woo
By Kang Seung-woo
The defense cost-sharing talks between Korea and the United States are still showing no signs of progress, raising concerns that the furlough of Korean employees of the U.S. Forces Korea (USFK) may be extended indefinitely.
This is a huge U-turn from last week's expectations that the allies were moving closer to signing the latest Special Measure Agreement (SMA) that determines the amount of money Korea will contribute toward the upkeep of 28,500 American troops stationed here.
Although the foreign ministry has said the negotiation hit a last-minute snag, experts believe Seoul's refusal to accept Washington's demand for a hefty increase in its share is the reason behind the stalled months-long negotiations being dragged out further.
“The defense cost-sharing talks have returned back to the fifth round position, in which the U.S. demanded that Korea pay $4 billion,” said Park Won-gon, a professor of international politics at Handong Global University. They have had seven rounds of talks since last September.
“Amid expectations that the allies had tentatively agreed on the SMA, President Trump seems to have vetoed it.”
Despite the Trump administration wanting nearly $4 billion (4.94 trillion won) per year, the allies were said to have agreed tentatively on the Korean government position of a 10 percent increase from last year's payment of 1.39 trillion won.
Park said the U.S. has tossed the ball into Korea's court, so without an increased offer, the SMA talks are likely to remain stalled despite the possible massive consequences for both sides.
The SMA covers the wages of 8,600 Korean workers at U.S. military bases here as well as payment for construction projects and logistical support, so the absence of a new SMA has placed nearly half of the workers on unpaid leave.
“The deal failure poses a great burden to both Korea and the U.S. and should it prolong, a massive fallout is expected to occur. In that respect, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and Defense Secretary Mark Esper visited the White House, March 31, but to no avail,” Park said. “The biggest sticking point to a settlement is that increasing Korea's SMA contribution was one of President Trump's campaign pledges.”
Last week, a government source told local media outlets that the two sides had reached a tentative agreement, but in the wake of the report, the U.S. government strongly denied it to lower positive expectations.
Diplomatic pundits say the Korean government was too hasty in its expectations regarding the SMA negotiations.
“I think Korean reporting about the negotiations was premature, and it would be bad bargaining for the Moon administration to portray the talks as positive before any outcomes are locked in,” said Van Jackson, a professor of Victoria University of Wellington and a former Pentagon official.
“Unless there's some backroom deal relating to the coronavirus, I'm quite skeptical the alliance will reach a negotiated deal anytime soon.”
While Korea showed hasty expectations about the deal, a tweet by USFK Commander Gen. Robert Abrams was met with controversy.
One day after local media reports, he tweeted, “Don't eat your kimchi stew before the time is right,” which means “Don't count your chickens before they hatch.”
As controversy arose that he was ridiculing the Korean government, the USFK said he had just learned a new expression while studying Korean language and culture. But he had never posted a Korean expression before.
Critics say it did not come at the right time.
“It is quite inappropriate and rude for a military leader to mention a diplomatic issue,” an online user said on a portal site, adding that some 4,000 USFK Korean employees were on unpaid leave.