U.S., South Korea scramble to seal defence cost-sharing deal as
thousands put on unpaid leave
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[April 01, 2020]
By Josh Smith and Hyonhee Shin
SEOUL (Reuters) - The commander of U.S.
troops in South Korea on Wednesday called for negotiators to quickly
resolve a cost-sharing dispute that has put more than 4,000 local
workers on unpaid leave, with South Korean officials suggesting an
agreement could come soon.
About half of the nearly 9,000 South Koreans employed by the U.S.
military command were placed on unpaid leave starting on Wednesday,
after the two countries failed to agree on a new pact months after the
last agreement expired at the end of 2019.
The dispute follows a U.S. demand for Seoul to pay up to $5 billion a
year to support the troop presence, up from $870 million under last
year's agreement.
"This is an unfortunate day for us, it's unthinkable, it's
heartbreaking," General Robert Abrams, commander of United States Forces
Korea (USFK), said in a video statement.
"The partial furlough of (Korean national) employees is not what we
envisioned or hoped would happen."
On Tuesday, South Korean negotiator Jeong Eun-bo said South Korea
regretted the U.S. military's decision to go ahead with the furloughs
with negotiations in their "final phase".
"We expect an agreement to be finalised soon," he said.
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Citing an unnamed source, Yonhap news agency reported that a new
deal could be announced as soon as Wednesday, "though various
possibilities remain still open".
Representatives for South Korea's Foreign Ministry and the U.S.
Embassy in Seoul declined to comment on the status of the
negotiations.
"We're closely watching developments," one South Korean foreign
ministry official told Reuters.
The United States stations roughly 28,500 troops in South Korea, a
legacy of the 1950-53 Korean War that ended in an armistice, rather
than a peace treaty.
U.S. President Donald Trump has repeatedly demanded that South Korea
pay more, although U.S officials said they have since "compromised"
on the initial numbers.
Abrams said USFK was working to prevent the furloughs from
undermining military readiness, and said it would offer unspecified
support to the workers on unpaid leave.
(Reporting by Josh Smith and Hyonhee Shin; editing by Richard
Pullin)
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