Park Ji-won is a writer for The Korea Times who has been covering a wide range of topics from Korea’s culture to its politics. An avid journalism enthusiast to the core, Ji-won brings a thoughtful and unique perspective to every topic she covers. On weekends, you'll often find her contemplating life’s purpose on a yoga mat — with a cup of quality tea in hand. A native Korean speaker by birth and fluent in English through her work, she went to college in Japan and is learning Chinese and French — hoping to add Polish, Russian and Thai to the mix.
Parties fail to pass resolution to pressure US over defense cost-sharing
Ruling Democratic Party of Korea (DPK) floor leader Rep. Lee In-young, right, main opposition Liberty Korea Party (LKP) floor leader Rep. Na Kyung-won, center, and minor opposition Bareunmirae Party floor leader Rep. Oh Shin-hwan have a meeting at the National Assembly, Monday. Yonhap
By Park Ji-won
By Park Ji-won, Do Je-hae
Political parties failed to pass a resolution in the National Assembly regarding U.S. President Donald Trump's widely rumored demand for Seoul to pay a whopping $5 billion in defense-sharing costs as the parties said the "request" was far from “fair, reasonable and equitable.”
Ahead of their departure to Washington, D.C., ruling Democratic Party of Korea (DPK) floor leader Rep. Lee In-young, main opposition Liberty Korea Party (LKP) floor leader Na Kyung-won and minor opposition Bareunmirae Party floor leader Oh Shin-hwan met to discuss the way forward regarding negotiations with the U.S. over the Special Measures Agreement (SMA) negotiations, but failed to reach a related resolution in the National Assembly. The ruling DPK announced its statement calling for the United States to present “mutually acceptable” terms. It added the party won't ratify this year's SMA if the terms are unacceptable.
“A resolution calling for a fair agreement has been proposed at the National Assembly, but the LKP is boycotting it,” Rep. Lee told reporters.
The LKP said the party will decide its position over the defense cost-sharing issue after wrapping up scheduled meetings with senior U.S. government officials. “One thing clear is Washington was asking too much,” a party official said.
With the end of the year approaching, Washington and Seoul began the latest round of negotiations, Monday, and had been due to continue through Tuesday evening. But the talks fell apart with James DeHart, the chief U.S. negotiator, claiming the United States could not accept South Korea's proposal.
In a phone interview with The Korea Times, Rep. Lee Hye-hoon, the chief of the National Assembly Intelligence Committee, confirmed her meeting with U.S. Ambassador to South Korea Harry Harris at his residence in downtown Seoul. The lawmaker said Harris mentioned “$5 billion” multiple times and remained critical of South Korea's claim Seoul may not meet the Trump's demand due to economic issues.
When contacted, the U.S. Embassy in Seoul also confirmed Harris' meeting with the lawmaker Lee Nov. 7. “As this was a diplomatic meeting, we will not divulge the content of their discussions," said William M. Coleman, spokesman of the U.S. Embassy.
A DPK official said the leaders of the political parties will use their meetings with U.S. officials as an opportunity to explain why fair and reasonable defense cost-sharing will matter in terms of raising United States-South Korea security cooperation.
Party officials said the recent breakdown in talks between Seoul and Washington wasn't a huge blow to the alliance, but that the breakdown represented that the issue is highly unlikely to be settled anytime soon.
“Some worries were that because U.S. President Donald Trump has repeatedly said he is prepared to bring American troops back home, eventually, the lawmakers want to be briefed for possible ways to prevent the alliance from breaking apart further down the line,” the DPK official said.