트럼프 "방위비 관련 한국 제안 거절... 분담상태 불공평해" 방위비 협상 난항<br /><br /> Negotiations to hammer out defense cost-sharing between South Korea and the U.S. may drag on for a while.<br />U.S. President Trump has signaled that he wants South Korea to pay more than what it's already paying for U.S. military presence here while Seoul says it wants a reasonable division of payment.<br />Oh Jung-hee files this report from Seoul's foreign affairs ministry. <br /> It's a bumpy road for South Korea and the U.S. ironing out a deal on how to share the costs of stationing American troops in South Korea.<br />In a White House news conference on Monday, U.S. President Donald Trump said... Seoul had suggested a payment of a certain amount, but he knocked it back.<br /><br />"And so now they've offered us a certain amount of money and I've rejected it. We're doing a tremendous service. // We have to be treated equitably and fairly."<br /><br /> Calling South Korea "a very wealthy nation," he went on to say... that the U.S. has been protecting South Korea for decades and Seoul's payment of 1 billion dollars a year is just a portion of the entire costs.<br /><br />"We're asking them to pay for a big percentage of what we're doing. It's not fair. // It's a question of will they contribute toward the defense of their own nation?"<br /><br /> South Korea didn't have much to say about Trump's comments, but stressed that it wants costs to be shared reasonably.<br /><br />"It is our view that there should be a reasonable and fair sharing of costs, and we're continuously working on that."<br /><br /> From last September through this March, Seoul and Washington held 7 rounds of negotiations on a new Special Measures Agreement for this year, but have not been able to see eye-to-eye.<br /> Without a deal, 4-thousand South Korean workers at local U.S. bases have been on unpaid leave since April 1st.<br />Reuters reports that the offer from South Korea that Trump rejected... was to increase its payment by 13 percent.<br /><br />"Officials at Seoul's foreign ministry say... though the negotiating teams of Seoul and Washington are not able to meet face-to-face due to the coronavirus outbreak, they are communicating through various channels. But it seems it will take some time for them to reach a deal, as the two sides have not even agreed on holding the next round of talks. Oh Jung-hee, Arirang News." <br />
