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 Seouls 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, Seouls 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.
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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.
The Mouth
(3,123 posts)Until every American has a home, education and healthcare.
Jake Stern
(3,145 posts)Spot on.
yaesu
(8,020 posts)reward from our overseas bases.
Jake Stern
(3,145 posts)Or rely on the supposedly crack ROK army to defend the South.
EX500rider
(10,532 posts)EricMaundry
(1,619 posts)If No. Korea offers the Orange Traitor more, will our forces cross the border?
soryang
(3,299 posts)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:
https://thehill.com/opinion/national-security/423756-a-looming-threat-to-the-us-south-korea-alliance