(Bloomberg) -- Cost-sharing talks between the U.S. and South Korea broke down over President Donald Trump’s demands for a five-fold funding increase, raising new questions about the stability of one of America’s closest alliances.
Talks between the two on Tuesday ended abruptly, with each side blaming the other. South Korea’s foreign ministry said it expected to discuss “an acceptable range for both counterparts” based on past cost-sharing discussions, while the chief U.S. negotiator, James DeHart, said that Seoul was “not responsive to our request for fair and equitable burden-sharing.”
That breakdown came despite Trump’s decision to send a high-powered mission to Seoul, included Defense Secretary Mark Esper, to try to convince President Moon Jae-in’s government to pay more for hosting U.S. troops. During a visit to Seoul last week, Esper said South Korea was “a wealthy country, and could and should pay more to offset the cost of defense,” without mentioning a specific figure.
U.S. Defense Chief Presses South Korea for Troop Funding Boost
Trump has demanded South Korea pay about $5 billion for hosting U.S. troops, well above the current one-year deal where Seoul pays about $1 billion. The price tag originated with the White House, according to people familiar with the matter, and administration officials justify it by saying it reflects the costs South Korea would incur if it takes operational control of combined U.S.-South Korean forces in the case of a conflict.
Trump has repeatedly expressed frustration with the open-ended troop deployment, saying after his first meeting with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un last year that he would “like to bring them back home, but that’s not part of the equation right now.” At the same time, he has accepted a long-standing Kim demand and suspended major joint military exercises that the two sides have relied on to maintain readiness.
The request for more money hasn’t sat well in South Korea, where many in Moon’s progressive camp and opposition conservatives have come out against demands seen as excessive. Moon, facing a sagging support rate, may not want to make any major concessions that further dent his popularity ahead of an election for parliament next year.
The U.S. has about 28,500 personnel in South Korea who help protect the country from the likes of North Korea, one of the world’s most militarized countries. The alliance is seen by U.S. security planners as key to checking the rise of an increasingly powerful military in nearby China.
“We cut short our participation in the talks today in order to give the Korean side some time to reconsider and I hope to put forward new proposals that would enable both sides to work towards a mutually acceptable agreement in the spirit of our great alliance,” said DeHart, a senior State Department adviser for security negotiations and agreements.
To contact the reporter on this story: Jihye Lee in Seoul at jlee2352@bloomberg.net
To contact the editors responsible for this story: Brendan Scott at bscott66@bloomberg.net, Jon Herskovitz
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