By Jung Sung-ki
Staff Reporter
South Korea and the United States have failed to narrow differences over how to share joint defense costs to maintain 28,000 U.S. troops on the Korean Peninsula, a government official said Tuesday.
Senior defense officials from the two nations met in Washington, D.C. Monday to discuss the defense cost-sharing issue, the official said.
During the one-day meeting, the United States called on South Korea to pay more to reach the 50-50 level in tune with Seoul's growing economy and increased responsibility for national defense.
Washington also wanted to use the burden-sharing funds to relocate its military bases to south of the Han River.
Seoul officials, however, were skeptical about the proposals. They wanted to provide military equipment and materials to the U.S. military instead of offering host-nation funds in cash.
``The two sides put forth their perspectives and stances in a friendly, businesslike and professional atmosphere,'' the South Korean Embassy in Washington said in a statement. ``We've agreed to further discussions based on today's meeting so that we can seek a mutually agreeable solution with the aim of consolidating the South Korea-U.S. alliance.''
Seoul contributed 741.5 billion won ($787 million) under the 2006 Special Measurement Agreement, in which South Korea agreed to pay 725.5 billion, up 45.1 billion won from 2006, to the United States in 2007 and increase its level in 2008 in accordance with a rise in the consumer price index.
The U.S. Forces Korea (USFK) argues the figure represents some 41 percent of non-personnel stationing costs covering the salaries of Korean employees at U.S. bases, Korean contractors and service agents, as well as military construction, logistics procurements and maintenance and munitions storage.
Seoul officials do not agree with the U.S. calculation on Seoul's proportion of burden sharing. They said the difference over the proportion of host-nation funds between the two governments resulted from different ways of assessing the values of host-nation support programs.
For instance, South Korea provides about 27,000 reinforcement troops called KATUSAs (Korea Augmentation Troops to the U.S. Army) to the USFK for free as part of a host-nation support program.
The value of the KATUSA program would be at least $50 million a year on the assumption that a KATUSA soldier is paid $1,500 per month, the officials said.
Besides the troop support, South Korea provides land for bases and firing ranges for free, unlike Japan and other nations where U.S. troops are stationed. U.S. forces are also exempted from taxation and benefit from reduced electricity and telephone charges.
As for the United States move to use part of the host nation's sharing funds in relocating its infantry units to the south of Seoul, opponents claim that if the United States uses the burden-sharing funds, it means South Korean taxpayers will virtually foot most of the $10 billion bill for the relocation project initiated by needs from both sides.
Under the Land Partnership Plan reached in 2002, the United States promised to pay to move the bases of the 2nd Infantry Division, north of Seoul, to Pyeongtaek, Gyeonggi Province, where a consolidated U.S. base will be built by 2012.
On the other hand, Seoul agreed to bear the cost for relocating the Yongsan Garrison in Seoul under the Yongsan Relocation Plan finalized in 2004.
Under a master plan drawn up by the two governments last year, Seoul agreed to spend about $5.2 billion on the program to move U.S. bases to Camp Humphreys in Pyeongtaek. Camp Humphreys is to be tripled in size to accommodate more than 44,000 U.S. service members, their families, base workers and KATUSAs.