U.S.-South Korea Talks on Sharing Costs Stalled After Six Rounds

(Bloomberg) -- The U.S. and South Korea remain stalled after six rounds of talks on an updated cost-sharing agreement but the allies’ top defense officials said that they hope to break that deadlock next month.

“We are engaged in negotiations,” and the “minister and I are hopeful they will reach agreement soon, preferably before the end of March,” Defense Secretary Mark Esper said at a news conference alongside South Korea’s Defense Minister Jeong Kyeong-doo after they met Monday at the Pentagon.

If not, Jeong said, South Korean civilians who provide services to U.S. forces will start to be furloughed on April 1 for lack of funds. The countries are at an impasse over President Donald Trump’s demand that the South Koreans contribute much more than in the past for the American troops stationed in a joint defense against threats from North Korea.

“Shouldering the cost of our common defense cannot fall disproportionately to the American taxpayer,” Esper said, echoing a burden-sharing complaint that Trump also makes consistently about NATO allies. “South Korea can and should contribute more,” he added.

While the two sides remain at odds, U.S. officials have indicated they’ve backed off Trump’s initial demand that South Korea pay about $5 billion a year, more than five times the $900 million in a stopgap one-year agreement that expired on Dec. 31.

Earlier: U.S. Military Sends Furlough Warnings to Civilian Korean Staff

Jeong said through a translator that furloughs would be a “very big pill to swallow.” He said that his government is “considering a higher rate of increase” but the U.S. request “remains substantially higher” than what his government would accept so “there remains a difference in position.”

Jeong said there was a need to “close that gap” so “I hope conversation can begin again, as soon as possible.”

Separately, Esper said the top American and South Korean generals “are looking at scaling back” command-post training exercises “due to concerns about the coronavirus.” Jeong called the virus “quite serious” and said that 13 cases had been confirmed among the South Korean armed forces.

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