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November 2, 2004
[Have an opinion about the issues discussed in this article?
Sound
off in our Discussion Boards.]
By Joseph Giordono,
Stars and Stripes Pacific Edition
YONGSAN GARRISON, South Korea — South Korean and U.S. teams are
meeting in Washington, D.C., this week to discuss the military burden-sharing
agreement between the two nations, with Seoul saying its annual
contribution to the upkeep of the U.S. military and its installations
is too high.
The delegations were to have met Monday and Tuesday in Washington,
officials said, with the focus being a 1990 agreement requiring
South Korea to contribute an amount that fluctuates yearly.
According to a Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade spokesman,
the delegation is asking to reduce its 2005 contribution because
of U.S. plans to reduce the number of troops it has stationed here.
Under an agreement finalized last month, the United States will
remove 12,500 troops from South Korea over the next three years.
The first 5,000 of those troops — which are to include the 2nd
Brigade Combat Team soldiers deployed from South Korea to Iraq
— will be gone by the end of this year.
To that end, the Foreign Ministry said, the South Korean government
should pay less than the $623 million it contributed this year for
the burden-sharing agreement.
The amount contributed by the South Koreans is negotiated each
year; the Foreign Ministry said it would like to wrap up this year’s
negotiations by the end of December.
South Korea’s share in funding the U.S. military, especially the
U.S. transformation plans, has become an issue here. Some Korean
politicians also are upset about an agreement that requires Seoul
to pay virtually all of the cost to move Yongsan Garrison and other
U.S. bases under a plan to consolidate U.S. bases into hubs outside
of the capital.
The South Korean National Assembly last month estimated the total
cost of the moves at $4.9 billion.
Last week in Seoul, U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell said issues
such as funding the Yongsan Garrison move would be addressed.
During a news conference at the Foreign Ministry, Powell acknowledged
the Yongsan move would have “political and economic costs” for South
Korea’s capital city. He emphasized that those concerns will be
addressed in future negotiations between South Korea and the United
States as they determine the costs each country must shoulder.
“We will have to spend a great deal of time in consultation with
each other,” Powell said about Special Measures Agreement talks,
which involve setting those costs. “We will have to examine the
SMA and renegotiate it. We look forward to that.”
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