US Mentions Possibility of South Korea Bearing Construction Costs for Seongju THAAD Base

[Asia Economy New York=Correspondent Baek Jong-min] The United States has allocated $49 million (approximately 58 billion KRW) in construction costs related to the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) unit deployed in Seongju, Gyeongbuk, in next year's defense budget, and it has been reported that the South Korean government might bear this cost.

The U.S. Department of Defense submitted the U.S. Army budget proposal for fiscal year 2021 to Congress on the 3rd (local time), allocating $49 million for development costs in the Seongju area.

The Army stated regarding this budget, "The possibility of the host nation funding it has been discussed," and "Host nation program funds may be utilized to support this requirement."

This indicates that the U.S. side mentioned the possibility of sharing the construction costs necessary for operating the Seongju THAAD unit with South Korea or having South Korea bear the entire cost. The South Korean government has repeatedly confirmed the principle that the U.S. bears the cost of THAAD deployment. This U.S. policy is also evaluated as possibly being used as a pressure card to increase the defense cost-sharing contributions in negotiations with the U.S. Forces Korea.

The U.S. Army budget proposal also allocated $99 million for installing maintenance facilities for the attack reconnaissance battalion at Camp Humphreys in Pyeongtaek and $35 million for installing emergency fuel supply devices. The Army also mentioned regarding this, "This project is located at a permanent facility held by the U.S. Forces Korea," and "The possibility of the host nation funding it to support this requirement has been discussed."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.