US congressmen call for finalizing defense deal with S. Korea

US Congressmen urged the Trump administration Wednesday to conclude the drawn-out defense cost-sharing deal with South Korea to protect US security interests and the readiness of both countries’ forces in Korea.

On April 1, Korean national employees working for United States Forces Korea here were put on unpaid, indefinite leave due to a lapse in the bilateral cost-sharing deal for the upkeep of 28,500 US troops in Korea. Two countries had failed to finalize the agreement due to differences over the total costs Seoul should pay this year.

In a letter sent to US State Secretary Mike Pompeo and Defense Secretary Mark Esper, Sens. Robert Menendez and John Reed said they were concerned about the US enemies who would benefit from the prolonged defense negotiations.

Reps. Eliot Engel and Adam Smith, cowriters of the letter, said they were worried as well that Washington had declined Seoul’s offers to avoid the unpaid leave of USFK workers and to break the deadlock over the stalled talks.

Meanwhile South Korea unveiled Thursday its supplementary budget to counter the coronavirus pandemic, which cut back its defense budget by $700 million, including pulling back from purchasing US defense equipment and services.

Experts said the Moon administration, now backed by an overwhelming parliamentary majority, was playing hard ball to make the US engage in the cost-sharing talks.

“The issue of the furloughed workers would be putting pressure on the Moon administration to resolve it. But given the strong election results, the Moon administration would feel less pressure on that,” Bruce Klingner, a senior research fellow for Northeast Asia at the Heritage Foundation, told Voice of America.

Others warned that Moon’s gesture could prompt repercussions.

“If the talks on the Special Measures Agreement turn sour and the talks on Foreign Military Sales turn sour, then, you know, feelings harden. So yeah, it could lead to harder discussions for Op-Con transfers,” said Wallace Gregson, former US assistant defense secretary.

The Moon administration has been trying to get back the wartime operational control under his term, but the bilateral discussions so far have seen little progress.

Neither Washington nor Seoul seemed willing to compromise on the cost-sharing deal, so they could stay locked in disagreement for a while, Gregson said. 

By Choi Si-young (siyoungchoi@heraldcorp.com)