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Slicing through the pretty words and diplomatic rhetoric coming out of a meeting of the American and Republic of (South) Korea defense ministers in Seoul last week, it soon became evident that the U.S.-ROK alliance is troubled.

Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel and Minister of National Defense Kim Kwan-jin, sought to paper over differences about who would be responsible for defending South Korea and who would pay for it. On the other hand, Hagel was forceful in confirming that the U.S. “nuclear umbrella” protected South Korea.

A basic issue was the transfer of operational control over South Korean forces in wartime. Today, an American general has, in military lingo, OPCON over both South Korean and U.S. forces should war break out. South Korea controls peacetime training and deployment of ROK forces.

The U.S. has long wanted to shed wartime OPCON, asserting that South Koreans should take full responsibility for their own defense. But ROK leaders have twice succeeded in putting off that transfer until late 2015, arguing that they were not ready and that North Korea would be tempted to attack after the change.

In a press conference, Kim said: “Secretary Hagel and I share an understanding on the condition-based OPCON transition.”

He added: “We have further agreed to create a ROK-U.S. joint working group to discuss these issues.”

Hagel said he was optimistic that they would agree and “we will get to where we need to be.”

Translation: We have agreed on nothing and will keep on talking.

Further, the U.S. wants to dismantle the Combined Forces Command in which American and South Korean officers share the planning and logistic support to U.S. and ROK forces. Both sides make the same argument as that with OPCON transfer.

The underlying fear of the South Koreans, which civilian officials and military officers express freely in private, is that the U.S. will withdraw forces from Korea despite repeated pledges that the U.S. was committed to the defense of South Korea.

In a communiqué, Hagel ”reiterated the firm and unwavering U.S. commitment to the defense of the ROK” not only with forces on the Korean Peninsula but from anywhere else in the world.

Actually, the U.S. has long been reducing its forces in Korea. The U.S. position, which the South Koreans don’t accept, has been that the presence of U.S. military forces is not necessary to confirm treaty and political commitments to the ROK.

In the communiqué, Hagel “reiterated the commitment to maintain the current level of U.S. military personnel” in the ROK. While literally accurate, note that he did not say what the level was.

The U.S. has pledged to keep 28,500 troops in Korea. But the Pentagon, Pacific Command in Hawaii, and U.S. Forces Korea, the headquarters in Seoul, refuse to disclose the actual figure. Privately, informed officers suggest that it is well below 25,000 and mostly in support rather than combat units.

Further, rather than assigning U.S. soldiers to Korea for one- or two-year tours, the Army has begun deploying forces from the U.S. on rotations. In late September, an armed reconnaissance squadron from Washington state arrived in Korea with 380 soldiers and 30 Kiowa helicopters. They will go home in nine months.

Moreover, the mission of U.S. forces in Korea has changed. While they would help defend South Korea, they are focused more on contingencies elsewhere, much like U.S. forces on the Japanese island of Okinawa. They might be called on to help defend Japan but are more concerned with threats outside of Japan.

To be ready for that new mission, the U.S. forces in South Korea are being consolidated into fewer bases from which they can be deployed on short notice. Army infantry units are being withdrawn from camps north of Seoul and are being gathered into a new post in Pyeongtaek, 35 miles south of Seoul and near a port and an air base.

Hagel and Kim reaffirmed that the United Nations Command remained crucial to peace in Korea. In reality, the UN Command has become a paper headquarters left over from UN resolutions adopted in 1950 when the Korean War erupted. It serves only to give an appearance of legality to U.S. and a few other forces in Korea.

Asked what would be Korea’s share of the cost of maintaining U.S. forces in Korea, Kim said that the amount has ”yet to be negotiated.”

Hagel said: “We’ll adjust. We are adjusting now. We have to adjust.”

The Yonhap News Agency reported that the U.S. wanted the ROK to pay $934 million next year while South Korea offered $186 million less.