By Bernama,
Tokyo : Pentagon chief Robert Gates will discuss the problems of sharing the financial burden connected with the United States military presence in South Korea early next week, Russia’s Itar-Tass news agency quoted South Korean Defence Ministry sources as saying Thursday.
The US Secretary of Defence, at the forthcoming first official talks with his South Korean counterpart Lee Sang-hee, intends to raise a number of complex and unpleasant subjects concerning the ensurance of the stay of 28,000 American servicemen in the South of the Korean Peninsula, the sources pointed out.
In particular, the sides are to mull promoting plans for a re-deployment of American forward-based troops south of the Demilitarised Zone that separates the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea and the Republic of Korea.
The implementation of the plans, experts note, will require several billions of dollars. The current consultations on this aspect of cooperation are rather tensed. There are also difficulties with the sharing of the amount of general expenditure on the maintenance of US troops on the territory of South Korea.
Prior to the Pentagon chief’s arrival in the capital of South Korea, Robert Gates and Lee Sang-hee will attend an annual security forum in Singapore, which is known as Shangri-la Dialogues. This multilateral conference is scheduled for Saturday, May 31.