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ROK-US Defense Expense Share Negotiation Ambassador Chung Eun-bo said on the 4th (local time) in relation to the SMA negotiations with the United States, “I will try to resolve most of the issues in principle,” and expressed a willingness to reach a settlement as soon as possible.
Ambassador Chung visited the US for SMA negotiations on the same day and met with correspondents at Ronald Reagan Airport in Washington DC, saying, “There are issues, so I will try to resolve them as much as possible through a face-to-face meeting.”
He said, “Negotiation is difficult to talk about specific details because we have to deal with various issues and these things in a package with each other.” I will try to make it possible,” he said.
Ambassador Chung said, “These are the most important details of negotiations, but it is difficult to talk about such various details in detail because we are discussing other institutional aspects and such things as well” .
Next, regarding the discussion on the institutional aspect, he explained that “there is always a discussion on details or amendments to operate the special agreement.”
In addition, “We are concluding detailed SMA agreements every five or three years, and there are various requirements in operation in the process, so we discuss to reflect those parts continuously.” “He added.
When asked whether the issue of salary for Korean employees in the USFK was included, he said, “We are discussing including that.”
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Ambassador Chung said he hopes this will be the last, but that additional face-to-face negotiations may be necessary. Regarding the number of negotiations during the visit to the US, he said, “We plan to operate flexibly according to the situation.”
Regarding whether it is the procedure to close the negotiations, he repeatedly replied, “I will try to reach a settlement as soon as possible.”
On the 5th, Korea and the United States will hold the 9th meeting to conclude the 11th SMA with Ambassador Chung and Donna Welton, the US State Department’s defense cost sharing negotiator, each attending as chief representatives. It was held one month after the 8th meeting held on video on the 5th of last month, and this is the first in-person meeting after the inauguration of the US administration by Joe Biden.
In March last year, the ROK and the United States temporarily agreed on a plan to increase the contribution in 2020 from the contribution in 2019 (1.389 trillion won) by 13%, but the final agreement could not be reached due to the rejection of the then-president Donald Trump.
Negotiations, which had been stalemate, regained vitality after the inauguration of the Biden government, and there are observations that a settlement is imminent.
CNN predicted last month that Korea and the United States are likely to agree on a multi-year contract that will raise their defense cost share by 13%, and the Wall Street Journal (WSJ) recently reported that the two countries are close to signing a five-year agreement.
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