Korea, US to hold defense cost-sharing talks in Washington

South Korea and the United States will hold a new round of talks in Washington later this week on sharing the costs of the stationing of the U.S. Forces Korea (USFK), the foreign ministry said Wednesday.

Seoul’s top negotiator, Jeong Eunbo, and his U.S. counterpart, Donna Welton, will meet in the U.S. capital Friday, the ministry said, amid speculation that they were nearing a multiyear deal for the upkeep of the 28,500 American troops deployed here.

“The government expects that discussions will proceed toward a mutually acceptable agreement as soon as possible, based on the talks that the two sides have had so far,” the ministry said in a press release.

“Through this, we will work to contribute to strengthening the South Korea-U.S. alliance and its combined defense posture,” it added.

Jeong and Welton last held talks via video link last month. Their talks to reach the defense cost-sharing deal, or the Special Measures Agreement (SMA), appear to have picked up pace recently, as the administration of U.S. President Joe Biden has pushed to strengthen regional alliances.

Since September 2019, the two sides have engaged in grueling negotiations to reach the new SMA; but they failed to strike a deal after former President Donald Trump called for a hefty increase in South Korea’s payments.

Seoul had insisted that a 13 percent increase from the 2019 SMA was its “best offer.” Under Trump, Washington had asked for $1.3 billion a year, an increase of about 50 percent from the last deal.

The last one-year deal, which called for Seoul to pay about $870 million, expired at the end of 2019.