"The U.S. asked Korea to buy the ammunition stocks during USFK burden-sharing negotiations held at the end of last month," a government spokesman said. "Following consideration in the Defense Ministry and National Security Council, the government decided to purchase a set amount." The official said Korea would buy only what it needs, excluding unnecessary ammunition and supplies the U.S. plans to remove or destroy. But he said the exact amount Korea would buy was "a military secret."

"The purchase of the ammunition stores is in accordance with plans for an independent defense our government is pursuing," a Foreign Ministry official said. "This is not an instance of the U.S. military suddenly dumping the problem on us without consultation."

Current WRSA ammunition stores in Korea are about 600,000 tons and worth nearly W5 trillion(US$5 billion). This is roughly 60~70 percent of the ammunition that would be needed in an emergency. Thus even if Korea buys the stores at a discount, Seoul will likely have to spend about W1 trillion to get what it needs.

"The cost of the purchase could exceed the costs saved by cutting our USFK cost-sharing contribution -- a reduction of about W60 billion," the official said. "But this is a cost we're going to have to pay eventually to attain independent defense capabilities."

Costs for maintaining the WRSA stores have so far been shared between the U.S. and Korea, with Korea paying W70 billion a year. Korea's defense budget for this year swelled to W20.8 trillion, a 9.9 percent increase over last year's.

Of this, W7 trillion was earmarked for investment in fighting strength in line with the independent defense initiative, a 12.8 percent boost from the previous year.

(englishnews@chosun.com )