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Top leaders and military officials from South Korea and the U.S. agree... that the two countries'
strong alliance is
essential to maintaining peace on the Korean peninsula.
But... when it boils down to finances,... the two sides aren't seeing eye-to-eye on
a key issue,... which is something
they'll try and resolve over the next two days during talks in Seoul.
Arirang's defense ministry correspondent Han Da-eun reports. How much should South Korea
and the U.S. each pay in
order to keep U.S. troops stationed in South Korea?
To finalize the respective military cost-sharing amount for the next five years,... high-ranking
officials from the two
countries launched their second round of negotiations in Seoul this Wednesday.
"Today and tomorrow, we look forward to having productive and in depth discussions based
on our previous meeting
in Washington. I hope we can narrow our differences in the spirit of alliance."
"All of us know what a serious task we have ahead of us but I think it was a good start
in Washington and we look
forward, like you do, in making progress during these discussions in Seoul for our bilateral
relations and for our
alliance."
South Korea has been paying about 800 million U.S. dollars each year since their last cost-sharing
agreement was
signed in 2009,... but the two countries are expected to have harder time settling on an
amount this time around. With ever increasing missile and nuclear threats
from North Korea,... coupled with Washington's internal pressure from
the "sequestration," or automatic spending cuts in federal budget,... U.S. officials
are likely to press South Korean
officials to pay more from next year. Some experts argue that Washington may also
use the wartime operational control card to further pressure Seoul,...
which has asked the U.S. to delay the transfer in the wake of North Korea's provocative acts.
But it wouldn't be easy for the South Korean government to take on a near one-billion dollar
share,... an amount some
experts predict the U.S. could suggest at the meeting.
There are rising voices within the country that the cost-sharing amount is already too
high,... and reports about how
the U.S. has not yet spent a large sum of money received from the South,... are adding
to hostility towards raising the
country's payment for the U.S. troops. Han Da-eun, Arirang News.