S. Korea, U.S. likely to start discussing defense cost-sharing for 2020 soon
- 5 years ago
美, 방위비분담금 새 원칙 통보 임박…증액 압박 관측
President Trump has on various occasions hinted at the need for its allies to pay more of their shared defense costs.
And with less than 6 months left on Seoul and Washington's current agreement, negotiations for next year are likely to begin soon.
Lee Ji-won has more.
The U.S. is in the final stage of reviewing its defense cost-sharing agreement,... and is likely to explain the results of that review to South Korea soon.
This is according to Seoul-based Yonhap News Agency on Thursday, citing a foreign affairs source.
This would mean that the defense cost sharing negotiations could resume soon.
The Blue House also said the two allies' national security advisors Chung Eui-yong and John Bolton agreed in their discussion on Wednesday to continue talks on defense cost-sharing in a reasonable and fair way.
However, it is likely that the U.S. will push for Seoul to contribute more.
The allies agreed in February that South Korea would pay 924 million U.S. dollars for the stationing of American troops in 2019, an on-year hike of eight-point-two percent.
While such an agreement is normally a five-year deal, the U.S. insisted that the latest agreement is only for one year, which is seen as a move to allow Washington to keep pushing for increases.
In fact, President Trump, while not specifying which nation,... called the defense cost sharing with an unidentified country a (quote) "one-sided, horrible deal" and said that they will call on that country to give more.
The U.S. had also asked for a significant increase in their previous negotiation for this year's agreement,... which was 1-point-3 times what South Korea was paying last year.
Now there are some voices saying that South Korea needs to follow Washington's request at a time like this when both Seoul and Tokyo are trying to win Washington's support over Japan's trade restrictions on South Korea.
However experts say that if that happens, Washington would likely keep requesting more and more and that Seoul needs to show that its current contribution is not unfair.
"If Seoul says that the U.S. should downsize its troop presence in the South, or even pull out,... it would be diminishing the U.S. role and presence in the region. And that's not what Washington would want. South Korea's current contribution is more than ten times what it was in the 1990s. Seoul should be more active in showing how much it is contributing when dealing with the U.S."
The two sides will be aiming to sign a new deal before the current one expires at the end of the year.
Lee Ji-won, Arirang News.
President Trump has on various occasions hinted at the need for its allies to pay more of their shared defense costs.
And with less than 6 months left on Seoul and Washington's current agreement, negotiations for next year are likely to begin soon.
Lee Ji-won has more.
The U.S. is in the final stage of reviewing its defense cost-sharing agreement,... and is likely to explain the results of that review to South Korea soon.
This is according to Seoul-based Yonhap News Agency on Thursday, citing a foreign affairs source.
This would mean that the defense cost sharing negotiations could resume soon.
The Blue House also said the two allies' national security advisors Chung Eui-yong and John Bolton agreed in their discussion on Wednesday to continue talks on defense cost-sharing in a reasonable and fair way.
However, it is likely that the U.S. will push for Seoul to contribute more.
The allies agreed in February that South Korea would pay 924 million U.S. dollars for the stationing of American troops in 2019, an on-year hike of eight-point-two percent.
While such an agreement is normally a five-year deal, the U.S. insisted that the latest agreement is only for one year, which is seen as a move to allow Washington to keep pushing for increases.
In fact, President Trump, while not specifying which nation,... called the defense cost sharing with an unidentified country a (quote) "one-sided, horrible deal" and said that they will call on that country to give more.
The U.S. had also asked for a significant increase in their previous negotiation for this year's agreement,... which was 1-point-3 times what South Korea was paying last year.
Now there are some voices saying that South Korea needs to follow Washington's request at a time like this when both Seoul and Tokyo are trying to win Washington's support over Japan's trade restrictions on South Korea.
However experts say that if that happens, Washington would likely keep requesting more and more and that Seoul needs to show that its current contribution is not unfair.
"If Seoul says that the U.S. should downsize its troop presence in the South, or even pull out,... it would be diminishing the U.S. role and presence in the region. And that's not what Washington would want. South Korea's current contribution is more than ten times what it was in the 1990s. Seoul should be more active in showing how much it is contributing when dealing with the U.S."
The two sides will be aiming to sign a new deal before the current one expires at the end of the year.
Lee Ji-won, Arirang News.