The Death of an Alliance, Part 54

Last week, sitting barely more than arm’s length from Deputy Undersecretary of Richard Lawless, I detected a veiled threat to reduce the U.S. military presence in Korea if Korea doesn’t increase its contribution to cost sharing. The veil is now off.

Richard Lawless, the deputy undersecretary of defense for Asian and Pacific Security Affairs, told reporters that the administration may have to make cuts in Korea — in personnel or in other areas — if the 38 percent share of costs now paid by the Korean government is not raised toward the 50 percent to 75 percent range.

You have to wonder why this issue is looking more like a deal-breaker to both sides. For a long time, the United States was content to pay 72%, and for just as long, South Korea would have paid any price or borne any burden to stave off U.S. troop cuts.

The money dispute reflects, in part, a Korean view that the United States has been moving toward a reduced military commitment to its long-time ally, and that therefore Seoul should be able to trim its payments.

To hear Richard Lawless and Chris Hill describe the strong-but-evolving alliance during their prepared congressional testimony at last week’s hearing, you’d think that we were talking about renovating some KATUSA snack bars. This may be one case where hearing everything in context provides less insight than reading excerpts in blogs and newspapers. Increasingly, as with the range ultimatum, neither side particularly cares about creating a public perception of unity. Instead, each side appears to be using every difference as an excuse to do what it wanted to do anyway.