Category: US-ROK Alliance

As I have been saying the U.S. was never going to get $5 billion from the ROK and they likely knew this, to pressure them in other areas such as increased weapons purchases and environmental clean up costs:

The top U.S. negotiator in defense cost-sharing talks with South Korea said Wednesday that his team is “not focused on” its initial demand for a five-fold increase to US$5 billion in Seoul’s financial contributions to the upkeep of American troops here.

In an interview with the Korean press corps, James DeHart also pointed out that South Korea’s weapons purchases from the United States are an “important consideration for us in the burden-sharing context.”

DeHart and his South Korean counterpart, Jeong Eun-bo, held the latest round of two-day negotiations in Seoul this week but failed to narrow the gaps over how much Seoul should pay next year and beyond for the stationing of the 28,500-strong U.S. Forces Korea (USFK).

“I do want to say, very importantly, there have been some big figures that have been repeated many times in the Korean media, and those figures do not reflect where we are in our discussions with the ROK today,” he said. ROK stands for South Korea’s official name, the Republic of Korea.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link, but if the Trump administration gets a $1 billion extra in weapons purchases and Seoul to fold on environmental clean up demands of closed out US bases will the critics give credit to Trump?

It is looking like the Trump administration’s pressure on South Korea is not only causing them to consider picking up the costs of environmental clean up for closed out U.S. bases, but buy more U.S. weapons systems as well:

In an apparent move to reduce South Korea’s financial contribution to maintaining the 28,500 United States Forces Korea troops here, the government has proposed purchasing up to $1 billion worth of U.S. weapons, officials directly involved with the issue told The Korea Times, Thursday.

“The South Korean team in the defense cost-sharing negotiations suggested a revised proposal to the United States. This included a Korea’s plan to purchase up to $1 billion worth of U.S. weapons by the end of 2020,” one official said.

“The government is seeking more inventive ways and applicable plans to reduce U.S. pressure on Seoul to pay more for defense. On a possible shopping list of U.S.-made defense products for South Korea could be advanced surveillance aircraft, along with the possible co-development of an anti-missile system between South Korean and U.S. defense contractors,” another official said.

Korea Times

You can read more at the link.

It is pretty clear that Seoul is going to end up paying more, it is just a matter of how much more are they willing to pay:

 South Korea’s top negotiator in defense cost-sharing talks with the United States has said the allies have failed to produce a concrete result in this week’s negotiations as Washington’s demand for a sharp increase in Seoul’s share remains unchanged.

Jeong Eun-bo made the remarks Thursday following the fourth round of talks in Washington on Tuesday and Wednesday over how to share the cost of stationing the 28,500-strong U.S. Forces Korea under the cost-sharing accord, called the Special Measures Agreement (SMA).

“At this point, we are in a situation where we need to continue to narrow our differences. It is not that we have reached a concrete result,” Jeong told reporters at Dulles International Airport. 

“It is right to say that the U.S. maintains its position,” he added.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.

Here is the latest on the US-ROK cost sharing negotiations:

South Korea’s chief negotiator for the defense cost-sharing issue with the United States dismissed speculations of a possible withdrawal of the United States Forces Korea (USFK) from South Korea.

“The possible USFK withdrawal from South Korea wasn’t an issue,” South Korean official Jeong Eun-bo told reporters after closing the fourth round of defense cost negotiations with his U.S counterpart at the State Department, Washington D.C., Wednesday morning (KST).

Jeong added he and his U.S. counterpart didn’t delve into the specifics of recent remarks made by U.S. President Donald Trump in London regarding the fate of the USFK. About 28,500 U.S. troops are currently stationed in South Korea. 

Korea Times

Here is what President Trump had to say recently about the US-ROK alliance:

In London, Trump, who attended an event to mark the 70th anniversary of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), said it’s up for debate whether maintaining the USFK is in Washington’s national security interest. “It can be debated and I can go either way and make arguments both ways,” Trump told reporters.

Not surprisingly, the U.S. president asked South Korea to make fairer financial contributions and claimed he was able to extract an additional $500 million from Seoul last year for U.S. “protection,” adding Washington wants additional commitments.

Korea Times

You can read more at the link.

It seems that the U.S. Ambassador would not be doing his job if didn’t ask if the ROK President is surrounded by North Korean sympathizers:

U.S. Ambassador to South Korea Harry Harris has become the center of criticism amid the rocky negotiations on determining Seoul’s share of the costs for the maintenance of the U.S. Forces Korea (USFK).

Multiple press reports have raised concerns about whether the ambassador is giving Seoul the level of respect it deserves as one of Washington’s indispensable Asian allies that shares the common objectives of maintaining peace and stability in the region. 

In particular, the U.S. envoy is said to have some “intentional misperceptions” about President Moon Jae-in, which may add to U.S. distrust of the South Korean leadership and government. 

This situation is an undesirable one with regard to bilateral relations, political analysts and lawmakers said Monday, as the two allies already have differing views over the definition of “fair and equitable defense costs.” There are also major differing viewpoints on a range of other security-related issues, such as the General Security of Military Information Agreement (GSOMIA) intelligence-sharing pact with Japan. Both of these issues have fueled concern among Moon’s critics that the Korea-U.S. alliance is not what it used to be.

A case in point fueling public discontent toward Harris was his meeting with a group of Korean lawmakers, Sept 23. According to reports quoting the lawmakers, Harris inquired about reports that Moon was surrounded by people with “leftist inclinations” who tended to side with North Korea. 

Korea Times

You can read more at the link, but like I have said in the past depending on how the North Korea issue and USFK cost sharing negotiations go, the Moon administration may turn to anti-Americanism. This may be an opening salvo in trying to shift Korean public opinion against the U.S.

This appears to be a way that the Korean government may try and hit back at U.S. negotiators trying to work out a new USFK cost sharing agreement:

Members of the ruling Democratic Party of Korea (DPK) Thursday floated the idea of including South Korea’s indirect financial contributions for the U.S. Forces Korea (USFK) as “leverage” if Washington keeps asking Seoul to pay “excessive” costs. 

“If Washington keeps making absurd demands, South Korea will seriously reconsider the adjustment of indirect costs created by the USFK apart from defense cost-sharing,” Rep. Cho Jeong-sik, chief policymaker of the DPK, said during a party meeting, Thursday.

Underlining that U.S. President Donald Trump’s current rumored demand for Seoul to pay $5 billion for U.S. forces here is “excessive” and not written in the U.S.―South Korea Status of Forces Agreement (SOFA) or the Special Measures Agreement (SMA), he added the U.S.’ demands for Korea to pay more in additional categories such as rotation of U.S. forces and off-peninsula drills are irrelevant to the defense of the Korean Peninsula.

“Korea is making large contributions in many categories directly and indirectly. For example, Korea is letting the USFK use harbors, railways and land for free. It costs 3.5 trillion won as of 2015. Seoul can [recalculate the indirect contributions] and use them as leverage,” another DPK lawmaker who is familiar with the SMA negotiations said during a phone interview with The Korea Times.

Korea Times

You can read more at the link.

Considering all the U.S. pressure that the Moon administration has been facing from the U.S. this must be the face saving way they are attempting to maintain the GSOMIA without looking like they backed down:

 South Korea announced a decision Friday to “conditionally” suspend the expiry of a military information-sharing accord with Japan.

South Korea has also decided to temporarily halt a petition process at the World Trade Organization while negotiations with Japan on the two sides’ export control policies go on, Kim You-geun, deputy director of Cheong Wa Dae’s national security office, said at a press briefing.

He added the two sides have agreed to resume working-level talks to discuss the export controls.

It paves the way for the two sides to focus on substantive dialogue, at least for the time being, on pending bilateral issues such as compensation for wartime forced labor and the trade dispute. Depending on progress, President Moon Jae-in may hold one-on-one summit talks with Prime Minister Shinzo Abe next month.

Seoul’s announcement was made six hours before the expiry of the General Security of Military Information Agreement (GSOMIA), scheduled at the end of the day. 

A key condition is that South Korea can terminate GSOMIA at any time it wants and Japan has expressed “understanding” over it, Kim said.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.

Here is an interesting read from ROK Drop favorite, Dr. Tara O about what North Korea calls their tactic to separate the ROK, US, and Japan from each other:

What else can North Korea do?  Focus on Japan.  It can try to weaken South Korea-Japan relations by using anti-Japan feelings among South Koreans, maintained by emphasizing historical animosity.  

Gat is a hat Korean men used to wear during the Chosun Dynasty.  It has a large brim with two strings that go around the sides of the face to tie in the middle to secure the hat in its place.   According to Kim Il-sung’s “Gat-Geun Tactic” (41:05), one string represents South Korea’s alliance with the U.S. and the other string represents South Korea’s relations with Japan.  By cutting off one string, the hat blows off.  Thus, by destroying South Korea’s relations with Japan, South Korea itself crumbles–and that is how Kim Il-sung describes the Gat-Geun Tactic, which is part of the Kim family regime’s anti-South Korea strategy.  

Kim Il-sung first used the term Gat-Geun Tactic in 1969, when he gave a speech at Kim Jong-il Political Military University, which trains espionage agents and operatives.  Kim Il-sung emphasized the tactic again in 1972 in his speech during the graduation ceremony at Kim Il Political University.

Hwang Jang-yop, the most senior North Korean figure to defect to South Korea, also said the North Korean regime is making full use of the Gat-Geun Tactic of weakening the South Korea-U.S. alliance and South Korea-Japan relations as part of its united front tactics.

East Asia Research Center

You can read more at the link.

You just knew someone was going to claim this at some point using anonymous sources:

The United States on Thursday denied a South Korean news report that it was considering withdrawing up to 4,000 troops from South Korea if it does not pay more for maintaining a 28,500-strong U.S. contingent deterring North Korean aggression.

South Korea’s Chosun Ilbo newspaper reported that the withdrawal of a U.S. brigade, typically 3,000 to 4,000 soldiers, had been discussed with the top brass of the U.S. military in South Korea, citing an unidentified diplomatic source in Washington.

The report came two days after the United States broke off defense cost talks after demanding that South Korea raise its annual contribution for maintaining the U.S. contingent to $5 billion, a South Korean official said, more than five times what it pays now, in rare discord in the alliance.

Reuters

You can read more at the link.