The US and South Korea have reached an agreement “in principle” on sharing the cost of stationing US troops in the country, the US Department of State said on Monday.
“The United States and the Republic of Korea have reached an agreement in principle on a new Special Measures Agreement,” a spokeswoman said. “Both sides are committed to working out remaining technical issues as quickly as possible.”
CNN quoted an State Department official as saying that under the revised agreement, South Korea would boost its financial contribution to nearly US$1 billion.
The 2014 deal that expired last year required Seoul to pay about 960 billion won (US$848 million at the current exchange rate) a year for keeping about 28,500 U.S. troops in the South Korea.
The allies had appeared unable to strike an accord to renew the deal despite 10 rounds of talks since March last year.
US President Donald Trump has repeatedly said that South Korea should bear more of the cost.
Yonhap news agency earlier quoted a diplomatic source in Seoul as saying that Washington appeared set to accept South Korea’s request to contribute underUS$1 billion this year, and that the agreement would run for a year as opposed to a previous five-year deal.
Yonhap said the two sides were expected to seal the deal as early this week. Its source attributed the compromise to the allies’ efforts to focus on diplomacy with North Korea ahead of a second US-North Korea summit planned for later this month.
South Korean officials have said that Seoul had sought to limit its share to 1 trillion won and make the agreement valid for at least three years.
A senior legislator in South Korea’s ruling party said last month that negotiations were deadlocked after the US made a “sudden, unacceptable” demand that South Korea pay more than 1.4 trillion won per year.
About 70 percent of Seoul’s contribution covers the salaries of some 8,700 South Korean employees who provide administrative, technical and other services for the US military.
The US military told South Korean workers on its bases they might be put on leave from mid-April if no deal was reached.
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