This demonstrates how concerned the ROK was of Trump winning the election that they have prioritized getting this cost sharing agreement signed before the election:
South Korea and the United States formally signed a defense cost-sharing agreement Monday, as Seoul seeks to speed up its domestic ratification procedure to ensure the stable stationing of American troops here ahead of the U.S. elections.
The signing came a month after the allies reached a new five-year deal on determining Seoul’s share of its cost for the upkeep of the 28,500-strong U.S. Forces Korea (USFK).
Foreign Minister Cho Tae-yul and U.S. Ambassador to South Korea Philip Goldberg signed the deal, known as the Special Measures Agreement (SMA), at the foreign ministry in Seoul, officials said.
Under the 12th SMA, which will last until 2030, South Korea will pay 1.52 trillion won (US$1.19 billion) in 2026, up 8.3 percent from 1.4 trillion won in 2025.
South Korea and the United States will begin their large-scale amphibious landing exercise in the southeastern city of Pohang and the eastern coast this week to build up the allies’ combat readiness posture and interoperability, the South’s Navy and Marine Corps said Sunday.
This year’s Ssangyong (double dragon) exercise, which runs from Monday through Sept. 7, will mobilize division-level landing forces and some 40 vessels, including two amphibious assault ships, the ROKS Dokdo and the ROKS Marado, as well as the USS Boxer, according to military officials.
The drills will also bring together some 40 aircraft, such as F-35B radar-evading jets, and around 40 amphibious assault vehicles, the Navy and Marine Corps said in a joint release.
The Ulchi Freedom Shield exercise is here again. Any bets on what provocations that North Koreans will launch in response?:
South Korea and the United States kicked off a major combined military exercise for its 11-day run Monday to bolster their joint defense readiness amid advancing North Korean military threats.
The annual Ulchi Freedom Shield (UFS) exercise, which runs through Aug. 29, got under way in the face of growing concerns over Pyongyang’s continued weapons development, highlighted by its launches of 37 ballistic missiles this year alone and heightened cross-border tensions from the North’s recent trash balloon campaign.
Based on an all-out war scenario, the UFS features main computer simulation-based command post exercise, concurrent field training and civil defense drills, according to the South’s Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS).
While the exercise will be similar in scale to the previous year, involving around 19,000 South Korean troops, it will include 48 field training events, such as amphibious landing and live-fire drills, up from 38 field events conducted last year. The number of brigade-level exercises will also increase to 17 this year, compared with four from the previous year.
I sure hope the US negotiators are using a possible Trump presidency as leverage during these negotiations:
A U.S. delegation for defense cost sharing talks with South Korea arrives at the Korea Institute for Defense Analyses in Seoul to hold a three-day fourth round of negotiations on June 25, 2024. (Yonhap)
Seoul and Washington launched the negotiations in April to renew the cost-sharing deal, known as the Special Measures Agreement (SMA), amid the view that South Korea is seeking an early deal to avoid tough bargaining in case former U.S. President Donald Trump returns to the White House.
Under Trump’s presidency, Washington had demanded more than a fivefold increase in Seoul’s payment to US$5 billion.
The current six-year SMA, due to expire at the end of next year, committed South Korea to paying $1.03 billion for 2021, a 13.9 percent increase from 2019, and increasing the payment every year for the subsequent four years in line with the rise in Seoul’s defense spending.
South Korea has said it seeks to have negotiations based on the position that its share should come at a “reasonable level,” to create an environment for the stable stationing of the U.S. Forces Korea (USFK) and to strengthen the allies’ combined defense posture.
Here is one of the typicals responses from the playbook used by the US and ROK in response to North Korean provocations:
The United States on Wednesday deployed one B-1B bomber for joint bombing drills in South Korea for the first time in seven years amid heightened tensions over North Korea’s trash balloon campaign and GPS jamming attacks.
The U.S. heavy bomber from Andersen Air Base in Guam and two South Korean F-15K fighters released live GBU-38, 500-pound joint direct attack munitions, to strike multiple simulated targets at Pilsung Range in Taebaek, 181 kilometers southeast of Seoul, according to the U.S. 7th Air Force in South Korea.
U.S. B-1B bombers last held such an exercise in South Korea in 2017.
South Korea is considering sharing advanced military technology with the United States, the United Kingdom and Australia through the so-called AUKUS partnership, South Korean Defense Minister Shin Won-sik said. https://t.co/CYNgsuMopP
This is why the ROK wants to conclude cost sharing negotiations before any potential Trump presidency:
Former President Donald Trump has suggested that the United States could pull out its troops stationed in South Korea if the Asian ally does not make more financial contributions to support them, U.S. magazine TIME reported Tuesday.
TIME’s release of its interview with Trump came as Seoul and Washington recently launched new negotiations over South Korea’s share of the cost for the upkeep of the 28,500-strong U.S. Forces Korea (USFK) under a deal, called the Special Measures Agreement (SMA).
“We have 40,000 troops that are in a precarious position,” he was quoted by TIME as saying. “Which doesn’t make any sense. Why would we defend somebody? And we’re talking about a very wealthy country.”
He was apparently referring to the 28,500 USFK service members.
Based on the remarks, TIME said in an article that Trump “suggests” the U.S. could withdraw its forces “if South Korea doesn’t pay more to support U.S. troops there to deter (North Korean leader) Kim Jong-un’s increasingly belligerent regime to the north.”
The ROK government has been wanting to get a new US-ROK cost sharing agreement in place before the U.S. presidential election. This is because they know the potential acrimony that could happen if Donald Trump is elected President and they have to negotiate a new agreement with his administration:
This photo, captured from the State Department’s website, shows Linda Specht, a senior adviser and lead negotiator for security agreements at the department.
South Korea and the United States outlined their respective visions for a new bilateral defense cost-sharing deal during their first round of negotiations in Honolulu this week, the top U.S. negotiator said Friday.
Linda Specht, senior advisor and U.S. lead negotiator for security agreements at the State Department, made the remarks after the initial round of talks over the deal, named the Special Measures Agreement (SMA) took place from Tuesday through Thursday.
The talks are aimed at determining how much Seoul should pay for the stationing of U.S. Forces Korea. The current six-year SMA is set to end at the end of next year.
“The United States and Republic of Korea outlined their respective visions for the 12th SMA,” she said in a statement. She did not elaborate on the visions.
“Our commitment to reinforcing the readiness of our combined defense posture underlines the enduring vitality of the U.S.-ROK alliance. We will continue to consult whenever necessary to further strengthen and sustain the Alliance under the 12th SMA,” she added.
Shortly before the talks, Specht said that the U.S. seeks a “fair” and “equitable” outcome in the SMA talks.
