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South Korea, US agree on troop deal
SEOUL, March 8, 2021 (BSS/AFP) – South Korea and the United States have
reached agreement on Seoul’s contribution to the costs of the US troop
presence on the peninsula, Seoul said Monday, as the two allies kicked off
annual joint military exercises.
The issue had bedevilled the two allies’ security alliance under former
president Donald Trump, who had a transactional approach to foreign policy
and repeatedly accused the South of freeloading.
Washington stations 28,500 troops in the country to defend it from the
nuclear-armed North, which invaded in 1950.
They are a key part of US forces’ deployment in Asia, but negotiations over
funding had been gridlocked by the former US administration’s demands that
the South pay billions of dollars more towards their costs.
The Trump administration initially insisted on $5 billion a year — a more
than fivefold increase.
Under the previous deal, which expired at the end of 2019, Seoul paid
Washington about $920 million annually.
Seoul’s foreign ministry said the two sides had reached an agreement “in
principle” without specifying the agreed amount.
“The government will resolve a gap that has lasted for more than a year
through a swift signing of an agreement,” it said in a statement.
The new deal must still be approved by the South Korean legislature.
US President Joe Biden has vowed to revive frayed US alliances under his
predecessor to counter the challenges posed by Russia, China, Iran and North
Korea.
“America’s alliances are a tremendous source of our strength,” the US State
Department said in a tweet.
It also did not state how much the South would pay.
The two sides “will now pursue the final steps needed to conclude the
Special Measures Agreement for signature and entry into force that will
strengthen our Alliance and our shared defence,” it added.
The agreement came as Seoul and Washington kicked off their annual military
training on Monday, which has been scaled down from the usual level over
Covid-19, with no large-scale physical troop involvement.
The nine-day exercise is still likely to infuriate the North, which has
long considered such drills rehearsals for invasion.
“The upcoming annual training is a computer-simulated command post exercise
that is strictly defensive in nature,” the South’s Joint Chiefs of Staff
said, adding they went ahead with plans after considering the pandemic.
After his first summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un in Singapore in
June 2018, Trump said Washington would suspend the “very provocative” joint
military exercises with South Korea.
But a second meeting held in Hanoi in February 2019 broke up early with no
progress towards Washington’s goal of Pyongyang abandoning its nuclear
weapons programme.
North Korea has put itself under strict self-imposed isolation to try to
protect itself against the coronavirus pandemic, adding to the pressure on
its moribund economy.
Analysts will be watching to see whether it uses the military drills to
launch provocations against Washington as it seeks to test the new Biden
administration.
BSS/AFP/MSY/0922 hrs