Senior US Democrats Urge Trump Administration to Expedite South Korea-US Defense Cost-Sharing Agreement

Open Letter to Pompeo and Esper Ministers... "Serious Concerns Over Failure to Resolve in 4 Months"

[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Jeong Hyunjin] Senior Democratic lawmakers in the U.S. Congress specializing in foreign affairs and military matters have expressed serious concerns regarding the Trump administration's failure to finalize the U.S.-South Korea Special Measures Agreement (SMA) negotiations.

According to the U.S. political media outlet The Hill on the 15th (local time), Democratic lawmakers including Senator Robert Menendez, the ranking member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, sent an open letter to U.S. Secretary of Defense Mark Esper and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, stating, "We regret that the U.S. government has not concluded negotiations even four months after the termination of the U.S.-South Korea SMA."

The lawmakers who signed the letter include Menendez, Senator Jack Reed, the ranking member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, Representative Eliot Engel, Chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, and Representative Adam Smith, Chairman of the House Armed Services Committee.

In the letter, they stated, "We understand that you highly value the importance of the U.S.-South Korea alliance," adding, "The alliance is forged through shared sacrifices, and a healthy, strong, and robust alliance with South Korea is a linchpin for U.S. security interests in the Indo-Pacific region." They further noted, "We understand that South Korea recently made a significant proposal to the U.S. to break the negotiation deadlock and reach an agreement, but the White House is believed to have rejected it."

The senior lawmakers emphasized, "We agree with the principle that South Korea can and must take on additional responsibilities and meet the increased burden to maintain a strong alliance," but warned, "We have deep concerns that continued friction without reaching a fair and mutually acceptable agreement will undermine the proper functioning of the alliance itself."

They added, "This could include challenges to readiness, threaten not only U.S. security interests but also the lives of U.S. military personnel," and "In such a scenario, the only winners would be our adversaries. This is a serious concern we want to share with you."

In the SMA negotiations that began in September last year, the U.S. initially proposed a cost-sharing amount for South Korea this year that was more than five times last year's amount (1.0389 trillion won), approaching $5 billion, but later lowered it to around $4 billion. South Korea recently proposed a 13% increase compared to last year and was close to reaching an agreement, but reports from foreign media indicated that President Trump rejected it, causing the talks to collapse. As a result, since the 1st of this month, unpaid leave for about 4,000 South Korean workers employed by the U.S. Forces Korea has continued.

The Hill pointed out, "The negotiation deadlock is occurring while both South Korea and the U.S. are fighting COVID-19," adding, "COVID-19 has also threatened the U.S.-South Korea military readiness by causing training delays due to North Korea's missile launch tests."

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