Anchor: A senior U.S. congressional policy maker is calling on South Korea and the United States to compromise and get a deal on defense cost sharing. The lawmaker also criticized the Trump administration's approach to its South Korean ally and warned that Congress had the authority to prevent the White House from rashly withdrawing U.S. troops from the Korean Peninsula.
Kim Bum-soo has more. 

Report: The chairman of the U.S. House Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on Asia says it's time for Seoul and Washington to wrap up their long-overdue defense-cost sharing talks. 

[Sound bite: Rep. Ami Bera (D-Calif) - Chair, House Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on Asia, the Pacific and Nonproliferation]
"I think that the 13 percent is the largest that has ever happened in the history of this agreement."
"From the congressional perspective, we think we ought to get this done and there’s a reasonable compromise here. And we hope the sooner the resolution, the better." 

In an interview with KBS World Radio on Thursday, Rep. Ami Bera said U.S. President Donald Trump's approach to South Korea has gone wrong. 
 
[Sound bite: Rep. Ami Bera (D-Calif) - Chair, House Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on Asia, the Pacific and Nonproliferation]
"So I disagree with where the president is pushing for. I understand maybe a negotiation tactic to get his best deal, but the truth is this agreement benefits both of us. You know, it makes the peninsula more secure, but it also advantages and makes the United States more secure as well. And I do worry. You know, this is coming at a time when the North Koreans are doing some saber rattling and you know, making some noise here."  
 
South Korea hosts some 28-thousand-500 American troops. The Trump administration's take on how much each side of the alliance should pay for the upkeep of those troops has become a contentious matter.
 
Washington initially demanded a 400 percent hike before the last burden-sharing deal expired in December. Earlier this year, Seoul proposed a 13 percent hike but Trump rejected the offer.
 
The U.S. reportedly now wants South Korea to pay one-point-three billion dollars for the year 2020. That's nearly a 50 percent increase from the previous agreement.
 
[Sound bite: Rep. Ami Bera (D-Calif) - Chair, House Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on Asia, the Pacific and Nonproliferation]
"I think the Moon administration made a reasonable increase. I think where the Trump administration starting with a 400 percent increase is not a reasonable request. And I’d say let’s figure out how to get this done, which is going to require the Trump administration being willing to find a middle ground here. Again, it’s in both our country’s interest to get this resolved."

The White House recently ordered the Pentagon to slash the number of U.S. troops in Germany amid the Trump administration's dispute with its NATO allies over burden sharing.

The four-term Democrat, however, ensured that deadlocked talks will not prompt Trump to similarly reduce the U.S. troop presence on the Korean Peninsula, noting that the U.S. Congress functions as a safety pin.  

[Sound bite: Rep. Ami Bera (D-Calif) - Chair, House Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on Asia, the Pacific and Nonproliferation]
"Congress has passed in previous legislation that if the president went below a certain troop level, they would have to come to Congress to get approval... I think if there were any signals of troop productions that only empowers Kim Jong-un and the North Koreans. And it reduces our interests in the region. So I think there are tools that we have available. But the best tool right now is to let the president know that this isn’t a direction that Congress supports." 
 
With the two sides failing to narrow gaps for nearly six months, Seoul recently decided to first pay for salaries of Korean employees at U.S. military bases who have been on unpaid furlough.

Rep. Bera predicted that as the presidential election approaches in the U.S., North Korea will try to attract some attention and Seoul and Washington should leave behind what he called a "petty dispute over who pays for what” and close ranks.
Kim Bum-soo, KBS World Radio News.