S. Korea pays over US$ 3.1 bil. for annual cost of U.S. troops: Report
- 6 years ago
주한미군에 대한 우리 정부의 지원 현황, 2015년 기준 연간 3조4천억원
There's been a series of talks between Seoul and Washington on sharing defense costs,... as the existing agreement expires this year.
A local defense conducted a close study of how much South Korea compensates its ally for the presence of American troops.
Park Ji-won zooms in on their findings.
South Korea is estimated to provide more than three-point-one billion U.S. dollars a year... for the cost of having U.S. troops stationed here.
This figure was calculated by the Korea Institute for Defense Analyses,... and the lead author of the study announced the result at a seminar held Thursday afternoon at the National Assembly.
Research fellow Yu Jun-hyung explained that... back in 2015,... the South Korean government provided some two-and-a-quarter billion dollars worth of direct financial support,... including military supplies and maintenance expenditures.
There was also indirect support that year,... such as tax exemptions and reductions of utility bills,... amounting to nearly 900-million dollars.
And including over one-point-eight billion dollars worth of temporary support for costs related to the relocation of a central U.S. military base,... South Korea's overall burden for hosting U.S. forces suppased more than five billion dollars.
The study also attempted to compare such contributions by South Korea to those of Japan.
The study estimates that in 2015 Japan provided some six-point-three billion dollars' worth of support for U.S. forces stationed there,... but there were far more American troops in Japan -- some 62-thousand,... more than two-point-two times higher than the roughly 28-thousand in South Korea.
The paper said,... considering the differences in the two countries' GDPs and the troop numbers,... that South Korea is paying, directly and indirectly, much more than its neighbor.
South Korea is known to generally cover around 45 percent of the total cost of of its defense by U.S. forces,... but the author of the study maintains that the actual burden needs to be more accurately assessed and acknowledged.
The South Korean government aims to use the findings in future rounds of negotations with the U.S.,... over their cost-sharing agreement, called the Special Measure Agreement,... or SMA.
Defense cost sharing is currently governed by the ninth SMA, signed in 2014 and expiring at the end of this year, and Seoul and Washington are looking to sign a tenth one soon.
So far this year,... they've held three rounds of negotiations on the matter in Hawaii, Jeju Island and Washington D.C.,... with a fourth round to take place in Seoul at the end of June.
Park Ji-won, Arirang News.
There's been a series of talks between Seoul and Washington on sharing defense costs,... as the existing agreement expires this year.
A local defense conducted a close study of how much South Korea compensates its ally for the presence of American troops.
Park Ji-won zooms in on their findings.
South Korea is estimated to provide more than three-point-one billion U.S. dollars a year... for the cost of having U.S. troops stationed here.
This figure was calculated by the Korea Institute for Defense Analyses,... and the lead author of the study announced the result at a seminar held Thursday afternoon at the National Assembly.
Research fellow Yu Jun-hyung explained that... back in 2015,... the South Korean government provided some two-and-a-quarter billion dollars worth of direct financial support,... including military supplies and maintenance expenditures.
There was also indirect support that year,... such as tax exemptions and reductions of utility bills,... amounting to nearly 900-million dollars.
And including over one-point-eight billion dollars worth of temporary support for costs related to the relocation of a central U.S. military base,... South Korea's overall burden for hosting U.S. forces suppased more than five billion dollars.
The study also attempted to compare such contributions by South Korea to those of Japan.
The study estimates that in 2015 Japan provided some six-point-three billion dollars' worth of support for U.S. forces stationed there,... but there were far more American troops in Japan -- some 62-thousand,... more than two-point-two times higher than the roughly 28-thousand in South Korea.
The paper said,... considering the differences in the two countries' GDPs and the troop numbers,... that South Korea is paying, directly and indirectly, much more than its neighbor.
South Korea is known to generally cover around 45 percent of the total cost of of its defense by U.S. forces,... but the author of the study maintains that the actual burden needs to be more accurately assessed and acknowledged.
The South Korean government aims to use the findings in future rounds of negotations with the U.S.,... over their cost-sharing agreement, called the Special Measure Agreement,... or SMA.
Defense cost sharing is currently governed by the ninth SMA, signed in 2014 and expiring at the end of this year, and Seoul and Washington are looking to sign a tenth one soon.
So far this year,... they've held three rounds of negotiations on the matter in Hawaii, Jeju Island and Washington D.C.,... with a fourth round to take place in Seoul at the end of June.
Park Ji-won, Arirang News.