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A final settlement is imminent in the USFK negotiations on the share of defense expenses, and the amount is also known to be much lower than the 4 trillion won proposed by the United States. Once the agreement has been reached on the practical line, it seems unlikely that the unpaid leave of the USFK Korean workers scheduled for today (1st) will actually happen.

Reporter Kim Su-young.

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After going to the 7th negotiations in Los Angeles, the delegation of South Korea's self-contained defense charges, the negotiating representative of our side said in a video message yesterday that the negotiations have reached the end.

[Jung Eun-Bo / Korea-US Defense Expenses Ambassador: We are at the final stage of coordination to settle the negotiations.]

At the practice line, coordination was over, and it was confirmed that the ROK and the US agreed on the amount of contributions that had been the biggest obstacle to the negotiation and the validity of the negotiation.

The amount of the contribution was reported to have come back to 4 trillion won after the US proposed 5 trillion won, but government sources say they know it has been settled at a much lower amount.

The validity period for the negotiations is said to have been accepted by the US, five years, instead of the one that the United States claims.

Negotiations on defense contributions, which began in September of last year, have actually been completed.

While it is known that both sides have only signed and announced the final sign, if Trump signs the final agreement, the issue of South Korean workers in the United States, which was scheduled to go on indefinite unpaid leave from today, will also be resolved.

Even if the final settlement is reached, it cannot be passed on to the US immediately because it must be ratified by the National Assembly, but the government plans to solve the labor cost issue by implementing a budget that has been prepared in advance.