US, South Korea military cost-sharing talks fail to achieve results
South Korea and the United States have once again failed to achieve tangible results in the latest round of military cost-sharing talks after a breakdown in negotiations last month.
Officials from the two allies met for the fourth time on Tuesday and Wednesday in Washington to discuss an agreement on how to share the cost of the 28,500 US troops stationed in South Korea.
However, the talks collapsed due to the fact that Washington’s demand for a significant increase in Seoul’s financial contributions to the military deployment remains unchanged.
"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," South Korean negotiator Jeong Eun-bo told reporters at Dulles International Airport on Friday.
"It is right to say that the US maintains its position," he added.
On November 19, the negotiators from both sides left the table after just about an hour of discussions that had been scheduled to continue throughout the day.
According to South Korean lawmakers, US officials demanded that Seoul pay up to five billion dollars a year to keep the American troops there, more than five times the 896 million dollars the country agreed to pay this year.
Any new cost-sharing deal would need the approval of the South Korean parliament, where ruling party lawmakers have previously said they would “refuse to ratify any excessive outcome of the current negotiations” that deviate from the established principle and structure of previous pacts.
The current cost-sharing agreement known as the Special Measures Agreement (SMA) will expire on December 31.
“We will try hard to conclude the negotiations by the year's end,” said Jeong when asked whether it would be difficult to strike a deal before the end of the year.
Jeong has agreed to meet with his US counterpart James DeHart again in Seoul this month to continue the negotiations.
The American military presence in South Korea has stoked anti-US sentiments in the country.
The US forces have on many occasions caused outrage by committing various crimes, including rape and assault. They were put under curfew in July after a drunken soldier attempted to steal a taxi and hit a Korean National Police officer in the process.
The Pentagon claims the troops are in South Korea to deter perceived threats from North Korea.
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