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WASHINGTON (AP) – The United States and South Korea have reached an agreement in principle on a new agreement to share the costs of the American military presence, which aims to be a bulwark against the threat of North Korean aggression, announced the two countries.
The State Department’s Office of Politico-Military Affairs said on Sunday that the deal includes a “negotiated increase” in Seoul’s cost share, but it did not provide any details. The Bureau wrote on Twitter that the agreement, if finalized, would reaffirm the treaty alliance between the United States and South Korea as “the backbone of peace, security and prosperity for North-East Asia ”.
South Korea’s foreign ministry released a similar statement on Monday, saying the two countries are seeking to provisionally sign the deal. He said the deal came after three days of face-to-face talks in Washington.
The United States maintains approximately 28,000 troops in South Korea to help deter possible aggression from North Korea, a legacy of the 1950-53 Korean War. But how much South Korea should pay for the US military presence was a thorny question in bilateral relations under the Trump administration, which has often called on its Asian ally to dramatically increase its share.
In 2019, the allies struck a deal that required South Korea to pay around $ 924 million (1.04 trillion won) for the presence of U.S. troops, an increase from $ 830 million the year before. . But negotiations for a new cost-sharing plan collapsed following a demand from the United States 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 not more specific.
The Wall Street Journal, which was the first to report on 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 commitment of the Biden-Harris administration to reinvigorate and modernize our democratic alliances around the world to advance our common security and prosperity.
Many conservatives in South Korea feared then-President Donald Trump would use the failed cost-sharing negotiations as an excuse to withdraw some US troops from South Korea as a bargaining chip in nuclear talks now. blocked with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un. The United States and South Korea had also halted or canceled some of their military exercises in recent years to support nuclear diplomacy, which ultimately collapsed due to disputes over US sanctions against North Korea.
On Monday, the South Korean and US armed forces launched annual military exercises that would last for nine days. The South Korean military said the exercises were command post exercises and computerized simulations and did not involve field training. He said the allies looked at factors such as the status of COVID-19 and diplomatic efforts to resume nuclear talks with North Korea when they decided to hold the exercises.
It is not known how North Korea would react to the exercises. In the past, the North often called regular exercises between the United States and South Korea a repeat invasion and responded with missile tests. Lee Jong-joo, spokesperson for South Korea’s Unification Ministry, said Monday that Seoul hopes Pyongyang will act flexibly and wisely in response to its efforts to promote peace on the Korean Peninsula.
The prospect of a new cost-sharing plan grew as the Biden administration sought to strengthen its alliance with South Korea and other countries.
South Korea began paying for U.S. military deployment in the early 1990s, after rebuilding its economy after the devastation of the Korean War. The strong American military presence in South Korea is a symbol of the alliance of countries, but also a source of long-standing anti-American sentiments.
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Associated Press writer Hyung-jin Kim in Seoul, South Korea contributed to this report.
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