YONGSAN GARRISON, South Korea — South Korean and U.S. teams are meeting in Washington, D.C., this week to discuss the military burden-sharing agreement between the two nations, with Seoul saying its annual contribution to the upkeep of the U.S. military and its installations is too high.
The delegations were to have met Monday and Tuesday in Washington, officials said, with the focus being a 1990 agreement requiring South Korea to contribute an amount that fluctuates yearly.
According to a Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade spokesman, the delegation is asking to reduce its 2005 contribution because of U.S. plans to reduce the number of troops it has stationed here. Under an agreement finalized last month, the United States will remove 12,500 troops from South Korea over the next three years.
The first 5,000 of those troops — which are to include the 2nd Brigade Combat Team soldiers deployed from South Korea to Iraq — will be gone by the end of this year.
To that end, the Foreign Ministry said, the South Korean government should pay less than the $623 million it contributed this year for the burden-sharing agreement.
The amount contributed by the South Koreans is negotiated each year; the Foreign Ministry said it would like to wrap up this year’s negotiations by the end of December.
South Korea’s share in funding the U.S. military, especially the U.S. transformation plans, has become an issue here. Some Korean politicians also are upset about an agreement that requires Seoul to pay virtually all of the cost to move Yongsan Garrison and other U.S. bases under a plan to consolidate U.S. bases into hubs outside of the capital.
The South Korean National Assembly last month estimated the total cost of the moves at $4.9 billion.
Last week in Seoul, U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell said issues such as funding the Yongsan Garrison move would be addressed.
During a news conference at the Foreign Ministry, Powell acknowledged the Yongsan move would have “political and economic costs” for South Korea’s capital city. He emphasized that those concerns will be addressed in future negotiations between South Korea and the United States as they determine the costs each country must shoulder.
“We will have to spend a great deal of time in consultation with each other,” Powell said about Special Measures Agreement talks, which involve setting those costs. “We will have to examine the SMA and renegotiate it. We look forward to that.”
