Seoul, Washington resume talks on troop funding

Korea and the United States began a fresh round of talks in Washington on Wednesday to discuss how to split the cost of stationing U.S. troops in Korea.

Senior officials are seeking to narrow differences over the proportion and the method of payment of Korea`s contribution. The talks are to end Thursday.

"The two sides reviewed each other`s position in the two previous rounds, so, from now on full-fledged negotiations are expected," a South Korean Foreign Ministry official said ahead of the talks.

Korea began contributing to the cost of maintaining the U.S. Forces Korea in 1991 with a contribution of 107.3 billion won ($115 million). Since then, the two countries have signed the Special Measurement Agreement every two or three years, gradually increasing Korea`s share of the burden.

The two countries held talks in July and August to discuss terms of a new SMA agreement for the next few years, but failed to resolve some key points. They are to finalize the 7th SMA by the end of this year.

Washington has asked Seoul to increase its share by between 6.6 percent and 14.5 percent. It wants Seoul to gradually increase the burden to 50 percent of the total, citing the principle of fair cost-sharing. Last year, Korea paid 725.5 billion won ($720 million) to Washington, 42 percent of the total cost.

But, Seoul officials are opposed such an increase, citing the weak economy. They suggest the raise be only 2.5 percent, in line with last year`s rate of inflation. However, inflation this year is higher, reaching 5.9 percent on-year in July.

Korea also demands the United States to revise the formula for its financial contributions. Seoul wants to make its contributions by providing goods, instead of the current lump-sum cash payment.

Under the current system, the money provided by Korea is spent at the discretion of the U.S. military.

Korean civic groups have raised questions about the transparency of this system. They criticized a U.S. plan to spend 50 percent of Korea`s SMA contributions on the relocation of its 2nd Infantry Division, currently located north of Seoul, to Pyeongtaek.

Civic groups have claimed that the U.S. plan means that Korea is paying more than its fair share for the U.S. base relocation. If the U.S. military makes its payments using the Korean contribution to the SMA budget, Korea would be paying about 75 percent of the relocation costs, they say.

Seoul and Washington agreed in 2004 to split the relocation costs equally. Under the agreement, Seoul is responsible for the relocation of the Yongsan Garrison to Pyeongtaek, while Washington is supposed to pay for the movement of the 2nd Infantry Division to Pyeongtaek.

However, Washington opposes the change of the fund formula, demanding Korea allow the use of the SMA contributions to fund the base relocation.

Given the fierce opposition from progressive groups, the Seoul government is worried that the negotiation may trigger another public uproar similar to that over the Korea-U.S. beef deal in April.

In the SMA talks, South Korea is represented by Cho Byung-je, ambassador for talks on defense cost-sharing. His counterpart is Jackson McDonald, senior advisor for security negotiations.

About 28,500 U.S. soldiers are stationed on the peninsula as a deterrent against North Korea.

By Jin Dae-woong

(davidpooh@heraldm.com)