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Civic groups gather in front of the US Embassy in Seoul to denounce US Forces Korea for putting its South Korean employees on unpaid leave. (Park Jong-shik, staff photographer)

Amid the challenges brought by the COVID-19 pandemic, 4,000 South Koreans working for US Forces Korea (USFK) are being thrown out into the cold, placed on unpaid leave. It’s a shame, and a disgrace, to think that US President Donald Trump’s unreasonable demand last year for the South Korean government to quintuple its defense cost-sharing contribution would ultimately bring about something that has never happened in the 70-year history of the South Korea-US alliance and the US troop presence on the Korean Peninsula.

The US has continued to disregard offers by the South Korean government aimed at avoiding the disaster of unpaid leave. Chung Eun-bo, South Korea’s chief envoy in its cost-sharing negotiations with the US, explained on Mar. 31 that South Korea had proposed going ahead and disbursing the labor funds already allocated in the defense budget. Chung noted his regret that the US had turned down that offer and notified employees that they would be furloughed.

Previously, the South Korean government had indicated that it was willing to pay the wages of USFK’s Korean workers in advance of a final deal and suggested drawing up a memorandum of understanding (MOU) that would deal with the personnel cost first, before the military logistics cost and the military construction cost, the other matters were negotiated. The US rejected that offer, too.

The only possible interpretation is that the US means to use the South Korean workers as leverage to achieve its goal of engineering a huge increase in South Korea’s cost-sharing contribution. When the US is behaving in this way, does it have any right to talk about alliances or human rights?

The South Koreans employed by USFK are in an even tougher position because, under the labor provisions of the Status of Forces Agreement, they don’t enjoy the protections of South Korea’s labor laws. Their right to strike is limited, and they don’t receive any government assistance when they’re on leave. USFK’s old slogan “Let’s go together” is making the workers on unpaid leave feel an even greater sense of betrayal.

For now, the South Korean government needs to devise a meaningful support package for the employees who are worried about making ends meet now that they’re on unpaid leave, with no end in sight. But it must not bend to inappropriate pressure from the US in the cost-sharing negotiations. While Chung said that the two sides have reached “the stage of putting the finishing touches on a deal,” the negotiators must stick to the principle of reasonable and fair cost-sharing. It’s not too late for the US to realize that immediately calling off the furlough and shelving its demands for an absurd hike in South Korea’s cost-sharing contribution accord with the spirit of the alliance.

This unpaid leave, triggered by Trump’s unreasonable demands, reminds us once again of how far we are from a fair alliance. The South Korean government needs to treat this incident as the starting point for fundamentally addressing inequities in the Status of Forces Agreement and USFK’s usage of South Korea’s financial contributions.

Please direct comments or questions to [english@hani.co.kr]