Posted on 11/19/2019 7:04:41 PM PST by Mariner
South Korean and U.S. officials broke off talks on Tuesday aimed at settling the cost burden for Seoul of hosting the U.S. military, South Korea’s Foreign Ministry said, amid a public backlash over a U.S. demand for a sharp increase in the bill.
Officials had resumed a planned two-day negotiation on Monday, trying to narrow a $4 billion gap in what they believe South Korea should contribute for the cost of stationing U.S. troops in the country for next year.
“Our position is that it should be within the mutually acceptable Special Measures Agreement (SMA) framework that has been agreed upon by South Korea and the U.S. for the past 28 years,” South Korea’s Foreign Ministry said, referring to the cost-sharing deal’s official name.
“The U.S. believes that the share of defense spending should be increased significantly by creating a new category,” the ministry said in a statement.
Negotiators left the table after only about one hour of discussions while the talks were scheduled throughout the day, South Korean media reported, citing unnamed foreign ministry officials.
South Korean lawmakers have said U.S. officials had demanded up to $5 billion a year, more than five times the 1.04 trillion won ($896 million) Seoul agreed to pay this year for hosting the 28,500 troops.
U.S. officials have not publicly confirmed the number, but Trump has previously said the U.S. military presence in and around South Korea was ”$5 billion worth of protection”.
(Excerpt) Read more at cnbc.com ...
The is great risk to the US.
Additionally, yesterday Seoul signed a defense cooperation agreement with China.
I say we start an immediate withdraw of all US forces. Bring the families out first. Everyone, everything out by the end of 2020.
Make it real.
Bring them all home.
That might change if and when there is a change in Seoul’s leaders.
Time to pull out of South Korea - the ROK armed forces can defend themselves....
Nice. I bet the bulk of U.S. casualties in the Korean War were caused by Chicom troops.
That alone is damn good reason to pull everything and everyone out.
My dad took two Chinese bullets before he came home.
And it’s Seoul just trying to show us who is boss.
Eff ‘em.
Pull out the 28,500 U.S. troops and re-deploy them to the U.S. - Mexican border.
“Pull out the 28,500 U.S. troops and re-deploy them to the U.S. - Mexican border.”
Like button please
How would Japan react? They may end up paying more.
Bring them home and do the same in Japan.
Then leave NATO and come home from Europe too.
I say we start an immediate withdraw of all US forces AND build another aircraft carrier.
Let Japan re-arm themselves. I’ll bet SK would love that.
“I’ll bet SK would love that.”
China too.
“US and South Korea break off defense cost talks amid backlash over Trump demand”
fine, SK. Break off the talks all you want but you no payee, we no stayee ...
We will be keeping those armed forces somewhere. Might just as well be there.
While I understand where you are coming from, we had peace in that region for decades in part because the U. S. made it crystal clear what the cost would be if there wasn’t.
As for South Korea signing a defense cooperation agreement with China, I’d take that with a grain of salt.
South Korea knows China all to well. It may be a defensive move, just pretending to have good agreement, when it comes to China.
“We will be keeping those armed forces somewhere. Might just as well be there.”
It might as well be at home.
It costs more to keep them there (directly and because the money spent doesn’t go back into the US economy) and we risk a war that we don’t need and isn’t in our interests.
We will need the troops on the Mexican border all too soon as Mexico turns into a communist dictatorship and/or a cartel anarchy.
These people really are Seouless...
Yeah we don’t need troops in the Middle East. We don’t need them in Germany. We don’t need them in Korea. We don’t need them anywhere else.
So when we bring all those guys back home, what do you think happens to them in less than 18 months?
They will be cut loose to save money.
Our armed forces drops precipitously as a result.
China, Russia, line up nations they want relations with, and then place a few troops there, sign up port agreements. Move a major presence there.
We have pulled out, have no more contact with people on the ground there. Our bases are closed. Our relations that would allow us back, are decayed and gone.
What you prescribe without realizing it is the surest fire way I know of the become the Britain of the 21st Century.
Hey, you’re not alone. A lot of folks have this all figured out, just how to make the U. S. stronger.
It will have the exact opposite effect.
Then places we used to be will flare up. Hey, we won’t be there. Who cares?
When Europe, the Middle East, the South West Pacific are all on fire, and we’re content at home here, how long will that last?
The last step in your great plans, will wind up being the U. S. having to fight foreign powers on it’s own soil.
We either keep our presence in the world, or withdraw from it.
Not a well thought out plan.
Britain hollowed itself out supporting an empire it couldn’t afford and the same thing is happening to us.
And we will end up having to fight foreign powers on our own soil but be unable to afford it with your plan.
There is no reason we can’t rapidly expand our military in the event of an emergency or keep a a lot of it even if it is stationed here at home.
We also don’t need to keep all of those forces overseas to have relations with foreign countries and if Russia or China expand their foreign presence it will only help to bankrupt them.
Over 70% of adults between the ages of 18-25 are not eligible to serve due to weight, low test scores, etc. Much of the other 30% think we’re a racist hellhole and would probably actively assist anyone who would invade us because in their minds we’re evil/racist/whatever and deserve destruction. If our military were to rapidly decline due to budgetary issues, we would be very hard-pressed to fill enough uniforms in an emergency.
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