U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and Pentagon chief Mark Esper have urged Seoul to pay more for the upkeep of American troops stationed in South Korea.
In a rare joint commentary in the Wall Street Journal on Thursday, they said "America's contributions to South Korea's defense far exceed the cost of U.S. 'boots on the ground' and constitute a far larger burden for the American taxpayer than meets the eye."
They added that the current defense-sharing agreement between the two allies only captures a portion of the cost of defending South Korea, and both sides will benefit from improving the burden-sharing arrangement.
Pompeo and Esper stressed that the vast majority of South Korea's payments for U.S. Forces Korea will benefit the local economy, as "more than 90% of South Korea's cost-sharing contributions currently go right back into the local economy."
The joint commentary came after the two sides failed to reconcile differences in their sixth round of talks in Washington this week to negotiate the Special Measures Agreement.■
<Photo: Yonhap News>
