South Korea and the US will hold the first round of defense cost-sharing talks this week

By Kim Seung-yeon

SEOUL, April 22 (Yonhap) — South Korea and the United States will hold their first round of talks in Hawaii this week on sharing the costs of maintaining U.S. troops stationed here, Seoul’s Foreign Ministry said Monday.

The talks will take place in Honolulu, Hawaii, from Tuesday to Thursday (local time), led by Lee Tae-woo, South Korea’s chief negotiator, and his US counterpart Linda Specht, the ministry said in a press release.

It will be their first meeting since Seoul and Washington appointed the two diplomats early last month to lead negotiations over how much Seoul should pay for the deployment of the 28,500-strong US Forces Korea (USFK).

“The administration will continue consultations with the view that our defense cost sharing must reach a reasonable level to create conditions for the stable deployment of U.S. troops in South Korea and to strengthen the allies’ joint defense position.” , the ministry said.

The start of the talks comes earlier than expected as the allies agreed to push for an early start to negotiations, amid speculation that the move appears to take into account the possibility that former US President Donald Trump , known for his tough negotiations on such deals, will be re-elected.

During Trump’s presidency, negotiations on the Special Measures Agreement (SMA) were a major point of contention as he demanded a significant increase in South Korea’s share of USFK costs. He reportedly called for a fivefold increase to $5 billion.

Under the latest and eleventh SMA, South Korea agreed to increase the 2019 payment by 13.9 percent to $1.03 billion for 2021.

The current SMA expires at the end of 2025 and has a term of six years.

Since 1991, Seoul has partially borne the costs under the SMA for Korean USFK employees; the construction of military installations, such as barracks, and training, educational, operational and communications facilities; and other logistical support.