US-Korea Begin 2nd Round of Defense Cost-Sharing Talks Today

Trump Election Celebration Timing Unusually Moved Up
Expect Tug-of-War Over Defense Budget Increase Proposal

South Korea and the United States will begin the second round of talks from the 21st to conclude the 12th Special Measures Agreement (SMA) on defense cost-sharing. The meeting is scheduled to last three days, and it is expected that serious tug-of-war will take place over contentious issues such as the scale of the contribution and the criteria for its calculation. The SMA is an agreement that stipulates the amount South Korea must bear for the stationing of U.S. forces in Korea, with South Korea's contributions used for three main items: ▲ labor costs (wages for Korean employees of the U.S. Forces Korea), ▲ military construction costs (support for facility construction), and ▲ logistics support costs (services and material support).

[Image source=Yonhap News]

A government official stated, “On the Korean side, Lee Tae-woo, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs' chief negotiator for defense cost-sharing, and on the U.S. side, Linda Specht, Senior Advisor at the State Department, will each lead the talks as chief representatives.”

Both sides held the first round of talks from the 23rd to 25th of last month in Honolulu, Hawaii, confirming each other's basic positions. The timing of the discussions was unusually advanced. Typically, discussions on defense cost-sharing between South Korea and the U.S. have been held in the year prior to the payment of the defense cost-sharing funds. The reason for advancing the talks is that if former President Trump is elected in the upcoming U.S. presidential election in November, various variables could arise.