U.S., South Korea agree on five-year plan to share defence costs

4/10/2024 18:36

        South Korea's foreign ministry and the U.S. Department of Statement said, the United States and South Korea on Friday agreed on a new five-year plan on sharing the cost of keeping American troops in South Korea, .
        
        South Korea's foreign ministry said in a statement, for 2026, the nations agreed to raise defence cost by 8.3% to 1.52 trillion won ($1.13 billion).
        
        Seoul and Washington launched the talks earlier than usual in what was seen as a bid to conclude the negotiations before the U.S. election in November.
        
        Lee Tae-woo, South Korea's chief negotiator, and Linda Specht, the top U.S. negotiator for talks on defence cost sharing with Korea, finalised the new deal after eight rounds of talks that began in April, held just before the existing deals were due to expire next year.
        
        Some 28,500 American troops are stationed in South Korea as part of efforts to deter nuclear-armed North Korea.
        
        South Korea began shouldering the costs of U.S. deployments, used to fund local labour, the construction of military installations and other logistics support, in the early 1990s.