US asks South to cover fees of using wartime command bunker

South Korean soldiers take part in a military drill being held as a part of the Ulchi Freedom Guardian exercise in Yongin in this Aug. 29, 2017. / Korea Times file

By Park Ji-won

The United States has asked South Korea to cover the operation and maintenance costs for a U.S.-controlled wartime command bunker complex here, which may run into tens of billions of dollars, according to defense sources, Wednesday

Seoul and Washington tentatively agreed to jointly use the Command Post Theater, Air, Naval, Ground Operations, or CP Tango, in Seongnam, Gyeonggi Province, even after wartime operational control (OPCON) of South Korean troops is handed over to the South, during their Status of Forces Agreement (SOFA) talks.

“The two sides have agreed on the idea of jointly using Command Post Tango,” a source said. “In broad terms, the SOFA talks are moving in the direction toward joint use.”

The U.S. initially wanted to hand over control of CP Tango ahead of the OPCON transfer so that Seoul could use the complex as a future command facility. Based on this, it asked the government to pay for operation and maintenance costs.

Seoul has been planning to use the bunker at the Capital Defense Command to control operations after taking over OPCON.

Costs for the bunker may include upgrades, electricity, paying for contract-based security personnel and managing day-to-day operations, according to a report.

The bunker complex recently came into the limelight as it had reportedly been made a target on the list of possible budget cuts aimed at funding President Donald Trump's wall along the U.S. border with Mexico. As part of this, analysts say Washington is likely to pressure Seoul to pay more for the United States Forces Korea (USFK) presence.

The U.S. Department of Defense unveiled a fact sheet in March of a “funding pool” for Trump's border wall. This included taking $70.5 million from part of the USFK maintenance budget ― paid by Seoul ― which has remained unused. The surplus in this USFK budget denotes a sharp contrast to Trump's claim that South Korea does not pay enough in cost sharing.