US sticks with $5 billion defense bill for South Korea

Seoul, Washington break off defense cost talks in 90 minutes

The mounting pressure from Washington to "excessively" increase Korea's share of costs for the maintenance of U.S. troops in South Korea is triggering concerns among Koreans that the U.S. is not showing due respect to its allies.

Such concerns were greatly magnified by a recent meeting between U.S. Ambassador Harry Harris and a high-profile Korean lawmaker, in which the U.S. envoy reportedly underlined the necessity for Korea to respond to U.S. President Donald Trump's demand to raise Korea's share to $5 billion. The meeting has triggered criticisms that it was inappropriate for a diplomatic envoy to pressure a member of the National Assembly of the host country during a meeting on a core bilateral issue that is currently undergoing negotiations.

During a phone interview with The Korea Times Tuesday, Rep. Lee Hyehoon of the minor opposition Bareunmirae Party confirmed that she had met with Ambassador Harris on Nov. 7 at his residence over coffee, and that the top U.S. envoy talked mostly about the need to raise Korea's share of the costs. In particular, the lawmaker, who serves as chief of the Assembly's intelligence panel, said the U.S. envoy mentioned "$5 billion" multiple times, which is the amount Trump reportedly wants Korea to pay for the upkeep of American troops.

"He mentioned $5 billion many times. Basically, he said that Korea must pay more and that Korea has the capacity to do so," Rep. Lee said. She also said Harris showed a critical view against Korea's claim it could not meet the U.S. demand due to current economic difficulties.

Such a view is in line with Trump and key officials in his administration, who have openly criticized "rich" allies such as Korea and Japan ahead of the negotiations. "The ambassador stressed that Korea's economic prowess is stronger than any other country in the world and defied Korea's claims that it cannot submit to the U.S. request for the increase because the Korean economy is undergoing difficulties," she said. "I think what he means by this is that it has been too long for Korea to pay only one fifth of the costs that the U.S. is spending for safeguarding South Korea."

The U.S. Embassy told The Korea Times over the phone Tuesday that it could not disclose the purpose and content of the meeting. "Ambassador Harry Harris met with National Assembly member Lee Hyehoon on Nov. 7. As this was a diplomatic meeting, we will not divulge the content of their discussions," said William M. Coleman, spokesman of the U.S. Embassy. The Embassy also declined to comment about similar meetings in the future with other Korean lawmakers. "We generally do not announce diplomatic meetings in advance."

The meeting came amid rising criticisms within Korea and abroad that President Trump's rumored demand for $5 billion is out of line and it is feared the number will hamper the Korea-U.S. alliance. In particular, experts have highlighted that the figure lacks specific and reasonable grounds. Protests have continued in front of the U.S. Embassy in central Seoul, reflecting the growing frustration among Koreans about the lack of respect from the U.S. toward the alliance under President Trump, who has often shown disregard for allies' interests.

Due to the stark differences between the two countries, the negotiators failed to come to an agreement during the latest round of the Korea-U.S. Special Measures Agreement (SMA) negotiations, Tuesday.

The talks were cut short after the U.S. blamed Seoul for not being "responsive" to their request for "equitable burden-sharing." "As a result, we cut short our participation in the talks today in order to give the Korean side some time to reconsider and I hope to put forward new proposals that would enable both sides to work towards a mutually acceptable agreement in the spirit of our great alliance. We look forward to resuming our negotiations when the Korean side is ready to work on the basis of partnership on the basis of mutual trust," James DeHart, a U.S. State Department official representing the U.S. in the SMA negotiations, said during a press conference Tuesday after the negotiations ended.