Washington, Seoul agree on troop costs

WASHINGTON－The United States and South Korea reached an agreement on defense cost-sharing with an increased contribution from South Korea, the US State Department said on Sunday.

"We are pleased that US and Republic of Korea negotiators have reached consensus on a proposed text of a Special Measures Agreement (SMA) that will strengthen our alliance and our shared defense," said a State Department spokesperson.

The spokesperson said that the proposed agreement contained "a negotiated meaningful increase in host nation support contributions from the Republic of Korea", without providing further details.

The two sides are pursuing the final steps needed to conclude the agreement and have it ready for signing, according to the spokesperson.

South Korea's Foreign Ministry on Monday issued a similar statement, saying the two countries are tentatively seeking to sign the deal. It said the agreement came after three days of face-to-face talks in Washington.

The 10th SMA reached in March 2019 expired at the end of that year. The US and South Korea held multiple rounds of negotiations on the 11th deal, but they failed to reach an agreement after the administration of former president Donald Trump demanded a sharp increase in Seoul's contribution.

Contributions since 1990s

Since 1991, South Korea has shared the upkeep cost for US soldiers, including costs for South Korean civilians hired by the US Forces Korea, construction of military installations, and logistics support. The two countries signed a treaty of mutual defense at the end of the 1950-1953 Korean War, which provided the basis for the stationing of US forces in South Korea.

About 28,500 US troops are stationed in South Korea.

In 2019, the allies struck a deal that required South Korea to pay about $924 million for the US troops presence, an increase from $830 million in the previous year. But negotiations for a new cost-sharing plan broke down over a US demand that Seoul pay five times what it previously had paid.

The announcement came after South Korea's chief envoy, Jeong Eun-bo, arrived in Washington for the first face-to-face talks with US envoy Donna Welton since the administration of President Joe Biden took office in January.

After the last pact expired, some 4,000 South Koreans working for the US military were placed on unpaid leave, prompting the two countries to scramble for a stopgap agreement to let them return to work.

The US reached agreement with Japan last month on Tokyo's contribution to the stationing of about 55,000 US forces there, keeping Japan's annual costs steady at about $1.9 billion.

Agencies - Xinhua