While South Korea and the U.S. are sharply different in the process of negotiating the defense cost sharing, attention is focusing on whether they will be able to find a point through high-level communication.
Foreign Minister Kang Kyung-hwa told reporters after a closed-door meeting with members of the National Assembly's Foreign Affairs and Unification Committee on Tuesday that the two sides have a big disagreement in the process of negotiating the defense cost sharing between the U.S. and the U.S. and South Korea.
Kang's remarks are interpreted as a sign that the two sides are still having a difficult time narrowing their differences when no compromise has been reached in the 10 rounds of bilateral talks last year following President Trump's demand for a strong share increase.
However, Kang and U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeii decided in a telephone conversation that morning to try to reach an agreement on a reasonable mutually acceptable agreement with the spirit of mutual respect and understanding as allies.
서양야동
Currently, there seems to be a difference of around 300 billion won per year between the U.S. demand and Korea's Machinery.
Amid a growing number of criticism that an urgent consultation is necessary, attention is focusing on whether the call by the heads of foreign affairs of the two countries will lead to progress in discussions through high-level communication. The two sides are reportedly pushing for consultations through various channels, including Kang Kyung-hwa and Pompeiio, although they do not have the same regular and open consultations as they did last year.
In particular, the defense budget issue is directly related to the Korea-U.S. alliance, and there are some problems such as paying workers' salaries without any setbacks, so both Korea and the U.S. are expected to avoid the prolonged standoff.
"As both sides feel that they need to resolve the issue quickly, we expect the discussion to accelerate in the future," said a government source on Tuesday.
Meanwhile, while defense budget negotiations with the U.S. are going through separate channels, some observers say that the situation could become complicated if the U.S. tries to link the defense budget negotiations to other issues.
In particular, as President Trump made a concession to stop the South Korea-U.S. military exercises during the first U.S.-North Korea summit, there are concerns that the reduction of U.S. troops stationed in South Korea could be considered as a bargaining chip in the second U.S. summit.
The Washington Post predicted on Thursday that North Korea would want to manipulate Trump to achieve new concessions such as easing sanctions, declaring the end of the Korean War, and even withdrawing U.S. troops from South Korea.
However, considering the importance of the Korea-U.S. alliance in terms of regional security and internal public opinion, some analysts say that the U.S. can provide the North with a limited number of cards based on close coordination and consensus with the South Korean government even if the cards are used.
On the other hand, the South Korean government is also expected to suffer between the need to ensure that the defense posture of the alliance and the South Korea-U.S. cooperation to resolve the North Korean nuclear issue by quickly closing the defense budget before the North American summit, and the public's demand that the U.S. should properly discuss the issue.
"It is too much for the U.S. to take actual denuclearization measures, including inspections that the U.S. thinks, and if the standoff continues, the U.S. could be used even after the second summit," said Kim Hyun-wook, a professor at the National Institute of Foreign Affairs.
"Defense negotiations are a separate matter from other inter-Korean talks and should not be linked to North Korea's nuclear program," Cho Seong-ryul, a former senior researcher at the Institute for National Security Strategy, advised.
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