South Korea hopes to address first the issue of the upkeep of Korean employees for United States Forces Korea, as negotiations on defense cost sharing between the two allies drag on, Seoul’s chief negotiator said Friday. 

“We offered the US a side deal to sign to cover the costs for Korean national employees at USFK, just in case we don’t wrap up a new Special Measures Agreement on time,” Jeong Eun-bo said, referring to the cost-sharing deal.

The final agreement would later include the cost incurred under the proposed side deal. Since Korea and the US see eye to eye on the need to cover labor costs for those workers, Seoul expects Washington to consider its offer, Jeong said.

On Friday, the US military said it started notifying nearly 9,000 Koreans working for USFK that they could be put on unpaid leave as the two allies were far away from sealing the cost-sharing deal for 28,500 American troops here. The two countries are at odds with how much Korea should shoulder the burden this time.

USFK said Friday that it was bound by US law to deliver the notice a month in advance of the furlough that begins April 1. The US Defense Department said it would fund critical USFK logistics as well as key positions involving life, safety and readiness services.

“We greatly value our Korean national workforce and their contributions to the ROK-US Alliance. They are our employees, co-workers, teammates, and all are essential to our mission,” USFK Commander Gen. Robert Abrams said, referring to Seoul’s official name, Republic of Korea.

Seoul and the Washington, which held their first round of cost-sharing talks in September, failed to reach an agreement in the latest negotiations in the US this week. Washington has asked for $5 billion a year, five times more than what Seoul paid the previous time. The US reportedly cut back the amount during the talks.

The secretary general of the Korean workers’ union said they would carry on their duties regardless of the furlough, when they were given 60-day furlough warnings in January. About 70 percent of Korea’s contribution covers salaries of those workers for their noncombat and administrative services.

By Choi Si-young (siyoungchoi@heraldcorp.com)