China News Service, April 27, South Korean media reported on the 26th that in view of the prolonged negotiations on the sharing of defense costs between South Korea and the United States, the South Korean government decided to pay the wages to Korean employees of the US military in South Korea that are forced to take unpaid leave from this month , And has informed the US about the situation.
Since the negotiations on the agreement on the sharing of defense costs between South Korea and the United States have failed, from April 1, more than 4,000 Korean workers in the US military base in South Korea have not received wages.
A senior South Korean government official said that the government decided to pay the salaries of more than 4,000 Korean employees first, and plans to pay the United States the share of the cost in addition to these costs after a compromise has been reached in the negotiation of defense cost sharing between South Korea and the United States.
The official pointed out that the United States may claim that Korean employees did not work during this period and refused to pay them. Therefore, the government is studying to provide only 70% of wages to Korean employees through employment insurance.
The official said that the US has notified the South Korean government of the above policy, and the US has not yet disputed this.
Some analysts believe that the US government used the wage issue of Korean employees in the US military in South Korea as a bargaining chip in the negotiation of the sharing of defense costs between the United States and South Korea.
From September 2019, South Korea and the United States launched the 11th defense fee sharing agreement negotiation, but after seven rounds of negotiations, the two sides did not reach an agreement until March this year. The 10th Korea-US defense fee sharing agreement expired at the end of last year.