Korea, U.S. Ready for Munitions Talks

The negotiations regarding the transfer of responsibility for the War Reserves Stockpile for Allies (WRSA) between Korea and the U.S. took a new turn after U.S. President Bush signed a bill stipulating the transfer of the WRSA to Korea on December 30. The U.S. Senate passed the bill last November.

The bill calls for the U.S. to turn over its munitions and equipment stockpiled in Korea for use in case of war to Korea for a fee, and stipulates that all items the Korean government doesn’t purchase should be discarded. The deadline for implementation is December 2008.

The U.S. Department of Defense estimates that if the WRSA is sold to Korea, $1.2 billion (about 1.2 trillion won) in budget money will be saved.

A Korean official of the Ministry of Defense explained on January 3, “I understand that the U.S. is listing WRSA items which will be transferred to Korea. After Korea reviews the items it needs, it will negotiate with U.S. for them in earnest within the first half of this year.”

Because the U.S. Department of Defense will submit a list of items which are negotiation subjects within 60 days after the bill takes effect, ROK-US negotiation may begin as early as April.

The U.S. hopes that some of the 600,000 tons of munitions that account for 90 percent of WRSA will be used by U.S. forces in Korea or transferred to the U.S,. and that the rest will be turned over to Korea.

However, because the Korean government plans to buy just some necessary items in good condition from the stockpile, challenges in the negotiation process are expected.

Jae-Young Kim Sang-Ho Yun redfoot@donga.com ysh1005@donga.com