WASHINGTON (AP) – The United States and South Korea have reached an agreement in principle on a new agreement to share the cost of the presence of American troops, which is intended to be a bulwark against the threat of North Korean aggression, announced the two countries.
The State Department’s Bureau of Political and Military Affairs said on Sunday that the deal included a “negotiated increase” in Seoul’s share of costs, but did not provide details. The Bureau wrote on Twitter that the agreement, if finalized, would reaffirm the alliance between the United States and South Korea as “the axis of peace, security and prosperity for Northeast Asia”
South Korea’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs issued a similar statement on Monday, saying the two countries are trying to sign the agreement. He said the deal came after three days of face-to-face talks in Washington.
The United States maintains some 28,000 troops in South Korea to help deter potential North Korean aggression, a legacy of the 1950-53 Korean War. But how much South Korea should pay for the American military presence was a thorny issue in bilateral relations under the Trump administration, which often asked its Asian ally to dramatically increase its participation.
In 2019, the allies struck a deal that required South Korea to pay about $ 924 million (1.04 trillion won) for the presence of American troops, an increase of $ 830 million the previous year. But negotiations for a new cost-sharing plan failed due to the US requirement that Seoul pay five times what it had previously paid.
The State Department said in a statement that the increase in the South’s share of the cost was “significant” but was no longer specific.
The Wall Street Journal, which was the first to report the deal, said it would last until 2025. South Korea’s Foreign Ministry said it could not immediately confirm the report.
In its statement, the State Department said: “America’s alliances are a tremendous source of our strength. This development reflects the Biden-Harris administration’s commitment to reinvigorating and modernizing our democratic alliances around the world to promote our shared security and prosperity. “
Many conservatives in South Korea fear that then President Donald Trump may use the failed cost-sharing negotiations as an excuse to withdraw some US troops in South Korea as a bargaining chip in nuclear negotiations now paralyzed with the North Korean leader. Kim Jong Un. The United States and South Korea have also halted or canceled some of their military exercises in recent years to support nuclear diplomacy, which has collapsed due to U.S.-led sanctions disputes over North Korea.
On Monday, the South Korean and US military began nine-day annual military exercises. South Korea’s military said the exercises are command post exercises and computer simulation and do not involve field training. He said the allies reviewed factors such as the status of COVID-19 and diplomatic efforts to resume nuclear talks with North Korea when it decided to carry out the exercises.
It is not clear how North Korea would respond to the exercises. In the past, the North used to call regular US-South Korea exercises an invasion test and responded with missile tests. Lee Jong-joo, a spokesman for the South Korean Unification Ministry, said on Monday that Seoul expects Pyongyang to act flexibly and wisely in response to its efforts to promote peace on the Korean Peninsula.
The prospect of a new cost-sharing plan has increased as the Biden government has sought to strengthen its alliance with South Korea and other countries.
South Korea started paying for the military deployment of the United States in the early 1990s, after rebuilding its economy after the devastation of the Korean War. The large US military presence in South Korea is a symbol of the countries’ alliance, but also a source of long-standing anti-American sentiments.
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Associated Press editor Hyung-jin Kim in Seoul, South Korea, contributed to this report.