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Eugene

(61,595 posts)
Sun Feb 10, 2019, 04:17 AM Feb 2019

South Korea, US sign new cost-sharing deal for US troops

Source: Associated Press

By HYUNG-JIN KIM
17 minutes ago

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — South Korea and the United States struck a new deal Sunday increasing the share of Seoul’s contribution for the cost of the U.S. military presence on its soil, official said, after previous rounds of failed negotiations caused worries about their decades-long alliance.

Last year, South Korea provided about $830 million, roughly 40 percent of the cost of the deployment of 28,500 U.S. soldiers whose presence is meant to deter aggression from North Korea. President Donald Trump has said South Korea should pay more.

On Sunday, chief negotiators from the two countries signed a new cost-sharing plan, which requires South Korea to pay about 1.04 trillion won ($924 million) in 2019, Seoul’s Foreign Ministry said in a statement.

It said the two countries reaffirmed the need for a “stable” U.S. military deployment amid “rapidly changing situation on the Korean Peninsula.” The ministry said the U.S. assured South Korea that it has solid security commitment for its ally and that it has no plans to readjust the size of its troops’ level in South Korea.

-snip-


Read more: https://apnews.com/128d6ec105e948e5ae476cad025cf29e



Now South Korea will pay 44% of the bill instead of 40%, and Trump will claim victory, no doubt.
7 replies = new reply since forum marked as read
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South Korea, US sign new cost-sharing deal for US troops (Original Post) Eugene Feb 2019 OP
We shouldn't be paying a cent The Mouth Feb 2019 #1
Thank You! Jake Stern Feb 2019 #4
I'm thinking the largest cost should be taxed to multinational companies that get the greatest yaesu Feb 2019 #2
If they want us there they should bear 100% of the cost. Jake Stern Feb 2019 #3
S Korea's military budget is higher then the entire GDP of N Korea. nt EX500rider Feb 2019 #6
Great. We're now the supplier of mercenaries EricMaundry Feb 2019 #5
South Korea already paid for the expansion at Camp Humphreys soryang Feb 2019 #7

yaesu

(8,020 posts)
2. I'm thinking the largest cost should be taxed to multinational companies that get the greatest
Sun Feb 10, 2019, 02:00 PM
Feb 2019

reward from our overseas bases.

Jake Stern

(3,145 posts)
3. If they want us there they should bear 100% of the cost.
Sun Feb 10, 2019, 06:45 PM
Feb 2019

Or rely on the supposedly crack ROK army to defend the South.

 

EricMaundry

(1,619 posts)
5. Great. We're now the supplier of mercenaries
Sun Feb 10, 2019, 06:47 PM
Feb 2019

If No. Korea offers the Orange Traitor more, will our forces cross the border?

soryang

(3,299 posts)
7. South Korea already paid for the expansion at Camp Humphreys
Sun Feb 10, 2019, 07:37 PM
Feb 2019

That was about a 9 billion dollar cost to them. The US isn't in South Korea solely for the benefit of South Korea either. This is one of the largest military bases the US has outside the US.

The US position isn't just for the benefit of South Korea. It is a strategic location that the US uses to counter the influence of China and Russia in the Far East.

The utility value of South Korean bases and facilities provided to the US free of charge, are not figured into the Special Measures Agreement financial cost sharing formula of the agreement which understates the South Korean contribution to the alliance.

David Maxwell lays out the misconceptions about shared military costs in the case of South Korea:

Yet South Korea already covers more than just annual basing costs. The recently expanded Camp Humphreys is now the largest U.S. military base outside of the continental U.S. It cost some $10.7 billion and the ROK provided 90 percent of the funds. The ROK government also agreed to a renegotiated Korea-U.S Free Trade Agreement, in response to pressure from Trump. Finally, from 2012 through 2016 the ROK purchased $19.8 billion in U.S. military equipment through Foreign Military Sales and Direct Commercial Sales.



https://thehill.com/opinion/national-security/423756-a-looming-threat-to-the-us-south-korea-alliance
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