ZCZC
BFF-34
SKOREA-DIPLOMACY-POLITICS
US walks out of defence cost talks: Seoul
SEOUL, Nov 19, 2019 (BSS/AFP) – The United States walked out of talks on
hiking South Korea’s contribution for American troops on its soil, Seoul said
Tuesday, as Washington accused its ally of rebuffing a “fair and equitable”
agreement.
US President Donald Trump has repeatedly demanded the South pay more
towards the costs of the 28,500 troops Washington stations in the South to
defend it against the nuclear-armed North.
Seoul officials say Washington is seeking $5 billion from its treaty
partner next year — a fivefold increase — raising concerns the issue will
undermine their alliance.
The latest round of talks broke down in Seoul on Tuesday “because the US
side walked out first”, said Jeong Eun-bo, the South’s chief negotiator.
His US counterpart James DeHart said Washington had “cut short” the
meeting to give Seoul “some time to reconsider”.
“Unfortunately, the proposals that were put forward by the Korean team
were not responsive to our request for fair and equitable burden-sharing,”
DeHart told reporters.
US Defense Secretary Mark Esper said on a visit to Seoul last week that
South Korea was “a wealthy country and could and should pay more to offset
the cost of defence”.
The Special Measures Agreement (SMA) that governs cost-sharing for
American troops in South Korea has been in place since 1991, and in February
Seoul agreed to an eight percent contribution increase for this year, to
around $890 million.
The head of the South’s parliamentary intelligence committee Lee Hye-hoon
said in a radio interview that US ambassador Harry Harris had “repeated the
demand to pay $5 billion for defence cost-sharing about 20 times” at a
meeting earlier this month.
Seoul’s foreign ministry said in a statement it would work to keep
contributions to a “reasonable” level and “within the range that is mutually
acceptable”.
The breakdown comes a day after the Seoul and Washington said they would
delay annual joint aerial exercises slated for this month in an act of
“goodwill” towards North Korea after months of deadlocked nuclear talks with
Pyongyang.
BSS/AFP/FI/ 1430 hrs