South Korean Government: The US will continue to negotiate for the replacement of defense cost-sharing negotiators

　　China News Service, July 31. According to Korea Broadcasting International (KBS), South Korea’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said on the 30th local time that although the United States has replaced the negotiator of the Special Agreement on Defence Cost Sharing, the defense cost negotiations will continue.

　　According to reports, South Korean Foreign Ministry spokesperson Kim Incheol stated at a regular press conference that day that South Korea has been striving to reach a mutually acceptable agreement with the US, and both sides hope to reach a compromise as soon as possible.

Data map: South Korean and American soldiers in training.

　　The US State Department said the day before that James Dehart, the chief representative of the United States in the negotiations on the sharing of defense costs between South Korea and the United States, was transferred to the Arctic Coordinator, but the United States did not announce the successor.

　　Beginning in September 2019, South Korea and the United States launched the 11th defense cost sharing agreement negotiation, but after seven rounds of negotiations, the two sides still did not reach an agreement until March this year. The 10th Korea-US Defense Cost Sharing Agreement expired at the end of last year.

　　According to previous reports, in recent years, the United States has been pressing South Korea to increase the share of defense costs. In 2019, South Korea paid 1.0389 trillion won (approximately US$924 million) for the defense of the US military in South Korea, an increase of 8.2% from 2018. The South Korean Ministry of Foreign Affairs stated on many occasions that the South Korean side insisted on reaching an agreement in a "fair and reasonable" manner within the framework of the existing agreement during the negotiations.

　　Since South Korea and the United States have not reached an agreement on the new version of the special agreement on the sharing of defense costs, the Korean employees of the US military in South Korea have entered the unpaid leave period for a time starting from April 2020. An agreement has been reached on the salary of Korean employees of the U.S. military and will provide funding for the positions of Korean employees in the U.S. military in Korea.