The SMA agreements were revised every five years until 2018, when the Trump administration pushed for annual renegotiations. Seoul wanted and hoped to reach a long-term agreement again to maintain a stable alliance and ensure the security of the Korean Peninsula. Since Trump used the annual negotiations to call for a sharp increase in Seoul`s defense contributions, many experts have said signing a one-year term does not benefit South Korea`s national interest. After three days of negotiations in Washington, South Korea and the United States have finally concluded talks on the Agreement on Special Measures (SMA), according to a statement issued on March 8 by the South Korean Foreign Ministry. The SMA negotiations – which cover South Korea`s contribution to the costs of US forces in Korea (USFK) – had been deadlocked since last year, so the previous agreement expired without replacement. However, the deal could become unfair because of the new provision tying the special agreement to the entire defense budget, Shin said. “The South Korean government must negotiate the annual growth rates of the agreement in the upcoming negotiations, outside of the national defense budgets,” the party statement said. South Korea`s Foreign Ministry said in a separate statement Wednesday that the new agreement “should create the conditions for a stable deployment of U.S. forces in Korea and significantly improve the . Alliance. A State Department spokesman also told the Wall Street Journal that the two countries had reached an agreement on the SMA negotiations, saying the deal included “a significant increase” in Seoul.
The spokesman said the deal demonstrated “the Biden administration`s commitment to reviving and modernizing our democratic alliances around the world.” The six-year cost-sharing agreement between the United States and South Korea on Seoul`s contribution to the presence of U.S. troops in South Korea went into effect on Wednesday, according to the country`s Foreign Ministry (MOFA), after the National Assembly ratified the agreement the day before. Now that the two sides have reached an agreement, some public and domestic experts are worried about the costs Seoul will pay for U.S. troops stationed in South Korea. Critics say the amount Seoul pays has already increased by about 40 percent over the past decade, and many argue that it would be more beneficial to invest that money in strengthening the national armed forces instead. South Korea paid about $690 million in 2009 to share defense costs and is now expected to pay about $1.2 billion a year under the new agreement. “The 13 percent increase in defense costs will be a higher rate than the amount of the increase from previous negotiations,” Kim Hyun-wook, a professor at the Korean National Diplomatic Academy, told The Diplomat. “I think Seoul had demanded a rate below 13 percent in recent negotiations, but that couldn`t have worked because of its initial offer — a 13 percent increase — to the Trump administration.” Kim added that last year, due to Trump`s “America First” approach, it was impossible to reach an agreement on the size of the increase. Shin Beomchul, director of the Center for Diplomacy and Security at the Korea National Strategy Research Institute, called the new agreement “stable” and fair for now. The failure of the talks had real consequences, as about 45 percent of Korean workers working for the USFK had to be fired because no deal could be reached last year. Without an agreement, the South Korean government and the National Assembly had to join forces to temporarily pay workers by enacting a new law and issuing decrees.
Neither the State Department nor the State Department disclosed details about the deal, including the rate of increase in defense costs and the duration of the deal. However, the Wall Street Journal reported that the new deal will be valid until 2025, while Reuters reported that the deal will be a six-year deal. News outlets mainly cited anonymous sources at the State Department or State Department, with limited official statements at the time of this letter. Since President Joe Biden took office in January, Washington has taken relatively swift steps to revive stalled SA negotiations to restore the importance of the U.S.-South Korean alliance. South Korea and the United States held their eighth SMA meeting virtually on February 5, shortly after the Biden administration`s inauguration; Last week`s meeting was the first face-to-face meeting since a meeting in Los Angeles in March 2020. In Los Angeles, negotiators tentatively agreed to increase Seoul`s annual contribution by 13 percent to $1.2 billion, but the two sides were unable to sign the deal due to Trump`s request for contributions of up to $5 billion. The agreements between Seoul and Washington must be ratified by the South Korean National Assembly after they are officially signed. Experts predict that the ADM will be completed by the end of March. Seoul is expected to contribute $1.02 billion for 2021, up 13.9 percent from the $896.62 million spent last year. The renewed agreement applies retroactively to South Korea`s contribution from last year, which was adopted starting in 2019 after negotiations on extending the agreement were stalled under President Donald Trump`s administration. South Korea`s Foreign Ministry issued a press release saying the two sides reached an agreement in principle following the SMA negotiations between Seoul and Washington last week.
The two countries will announce the results of the negotiations in more detail and sign a preliminary statement once the internal reporting process is complete. The State Department also stressed that Seoul will help strengthen the U.S.-South Korean alliance and common defense position by signing the agreement as soon as possible. Some lawmakers, such as Justice Party Chairman Bae Jin Gyo, have spoken out against the deal. Kim Sang-jin, director general of the Bureau of International Policy of the Korean Ministry of Defense, right, and major general. Thomas Weidley of U.S. Forces Korea is bumping into each other`s elbows after the official signing of the defense-sharing agreement in Seoul on Thursday. [YONHAP] After the vote, the ruling Democratic Party issued a statement saying the two countries were “now able to lead the alliance more stably without the need for annual renegotiations.” Under the new six-year agreement, Seoul`s future contributions will be proportional to its overall defense budget, which has increased in recent years. .
