S. Korea, U.S. sign deal on troop costs

SEOUL, South Korea — South Korea and the United States struck a new deal Sunday on how much Seoul should pay for the U.S. military presence on its soil, official said, after previous rounds of failed negotiations caused worries about their decadeslong alliance.

Last year, South Korea provided about $830 million, roughly 40 percent of the cost of the deployment of 28,500 U.S. soldiers whose presence is meant to deter aggression from North Korea. President Donald Trump has said South Korea should pay more.

The allies had failed to reach a new cost-sharing plan during some 10 rounds of talks. On Sunday, Seoul’s Foreign Ministry said the countries signed a new deal. A five-year 2014 deal that covered South Korea’s payment last year had expired at the end of 2018.

The South Korean ministry hasn’t immediately revealed the exact amount of money Seoul would pay this year under the new deal. Yonhap news agency reported that South Korea will provide about $924 million in 2019. Yonhap said the U.S. had previously demanded $1 billion from South Korea.

Some conservatives in South Korea voiced concerns over a weakening alliance with the United States amid a stalemate in negotiations with North Korea to deprive it of its nuclear weapons. They said Trump might use the failed military cost-sharing negotiations as an excuse to pull back some of U.S. troops in South Korea, as a bargaining chip in talks with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.

Trump told CBS’ “Face the Nation” last Sunday that he has no plans to withdraw troops from South Korea.