MND refutes statement, insists South Korea's contributions are adequate
South Korea will have to accept an increase in defense burden-sharing for the U.S. Armed Forces in Korea (USFK) if Donald Trump’s incoming U.S. administration demands it, the head of Seoul’s arms procurement agency admitted on Monday.
The U.S. President-elect has urged American allies to carry a larger defense burden and his campaign’s rhetoric suggests it might happen after his inauguration, Chang Myoung-jin, South Korean Minister of Defense Acquisition Program Administration (DAPA), told a seminar in Washington.
“If there is a ‘huge demand’ for more burden on the part of the ROK (Republic of Korea), I think Korea will ‘inevitably have to’ embrace that,” Chang said.
Speaking at a conference co-hosted by Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), Chang said the increase in the defense budget would bring about “a lot of resistance,” as the South Korean government would have to cut back on other areas, including on welfare.
“If that ever happens, the ROK government will place ourselves in a dilemma, but our focus and priority will have to be on defense, in my personal view,” he said.
DAPA on Tuesday offered an apology as Chang’s remarks drew heated debate. The agency argued Chang meant to say that it was “a matter for further consultation” if the next U.S. administration called on the South to pay an increased share of defense costs for the American troops stationed in the country.
The South’s Ministry of National Defense (MND) on Tuesday voiced opposition to Chang’s stance on burden sharing.
“The remarks were inappropriate,” MND spokesperson Moon Sang-gyun told reporters. “Our government shares its defense costs at the optimum level.”
Song Min-soon, President of the University of North Korean Studies (UNKS) in Seoul, argued that the U.S. and the South should negotiate new defense cost sharing “publicly, based upon the objective numerical index.”
“South Korea has domestically tried to avoid giving the impression of supporting excessive expenses since the first time the South officially provided maintenance costs for the USFK in 1991,” Song, a former South Korean foreign minister, said on Tuesday at the 59th Unification Strategy Forum held by the Institute for Far Eastern Studies in Seoul.
Speaking at the forum, another South Korean expert at MND-affiliate research institute reiterated that President-elect Trump may demand the South take on significantly more of the costs of American military presence in South Korea.
“According to Trump’s remarks, the U.S. will call on the South to pay 100 percent of the stationing costs for the USFK”, Suh Choo-suk, Senior Research Fellow at Korea Institute for Defense Analyses (KIDA), said.
Suh said the new stationing costs are estimated to come to $18.3 billion, based on data released by American Action Forum (AAF) on November 11: 2.4 times higher than South Korea’s current spending.
“Trump may consider the option of withdrawing the stationing troops if there is no increase in the defense budget-sharing,” Suh said.
Featured Image: U.S. Armed Forces in Korea (USFK)
