Defense cost-sharing deal between Seoul and Washington likely to be made soon
Jeong Eun-bo, South Korea's top negotiator in defense cost-sharing talks with the United States, holds video talks with his U.S. counterpart, Donna Welton, at the foreign ministry in Seoul, Feb. 5. Courtesy of Ministry of Foreign Affairs
By Jung Da-min
Expectations are rising in diplomatic circles that Seoul and Washington will soon reach an agreement in their long-stalemated defense cost-sharing talks.
These are based on the fact that the new U.S. President Joe Biden has pledged to strengthen their alliance and resolve related issues, including defense costs, and that the U.S. and Japan reached an agreement over their cost-sharing deal, Wednesday.
Two weeks after Biden's inauguration, a meeting for the 11th Special Measures Agreement (SMA) negotiations between Seoul and Washington was held, Feb. 5.
Since late 2019, the allies have held many SMA meetings on the upkeep of 28,500 American troops stationed here for a new deal that would have been applied starting 2020. But they have yet to reach an agreement, as former U.S. President Donald Trump demanded an excessive increase in Seoul's share, which the South Korean government said it could not accept. Seoul, instead, offered up to a 13 percent rise.
Amid repeated breakdowns of the meetings, the USFK, in January 2020, issued a prior warning of a potential furlough of about 9,000 Korean employees of the United States Forces Korea (USFK). The furlough took place from April 1 to mid-June last year, and was ended by a temporary arrangement between Seoul and Washington that allowed for the South Korean government to create a special fund to pay the furloughed Korean employees.
As the temporary arrangement ended late last year, however, there is a possibility that Korean USFK employees could again go on a furlough starting this April, with the U.S. side managing to cover their wages until March.
However, unlike the early 2020 situation, the USFK has not issued such notice of a furlough so far this year.
“We have not issued furlough notices at this time,” the USFK said in a statement to media in early February, commenting on the matter. “The U.S. and Republic of Korea governments are currently engaged in earnest negotiations toward a new, comprehensive Special Measures Agreement that will strengthen the alliance, support the stable stationing of U.S. troops on the Korean Peninsula, and remove the near-term threat of furloughs.”
The USFK and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs have both said they could not comment on the ongoing negotiations, but added the leadership of the countries was committed to working out a comprehensive deal.
“The two sides share the need to make a deal as soon as possible based on the importance of the alliance,” a ministry official told reporters.
U.S. army soldiers take part in a U.S.-South Korea joint exercise near the demilitarized zone separating the two Koreas in Yeoncheon, Gyeonggi Province, in this April 8, 2016 photo. Reuters-Yonhap
Experts said that the USFK not issuing a prior notice of a potential furlough could be a signal that Seoul and Washington will reach an agreement before April 1.
“There is a high possibility that the new agreement between Seoul and Washington could be made before April 1, as the situation could get complicated if the Korean workers with the USFK have to go on another furlough,” said Park Won-gon, a professor of international politics at Handong Global University. “The U.S. and Japan reaching an agreement for their new defense cost-sharing deal is another signal that the U.S. will also strike a new deal with South Korea in the near future.”
The U.S. and Japanese governments announced Wednesday that they reached an agreement to extend their existing deal for another year.
“It seems Seoul and Washington are near to striking a new deal but some the key questions would be for how many years the new deal would last and how much an increase the Korean government is willing to pay.”
In February 2019, the governments agreed on the 10th SMA for the defense cost-sharing for 2019, with South Korea increasing its contribution to about 1.04 trillion won ($938 million), up 8.2 percent from about 960 billion won a year before.