The Ministry of Foreign Affairs said the two sides reached an agreement in principle as a result of negotiations with the US Department of State to share defense costs.



The Ministry of Foreign Affairs released a press release today (8th) and explained, "The ROK and the United States are planning to make public announcements and go-to names after completing the internal reporting process."



A government official said, "It's a multi-year period," when asked if it was correct to agree on a 13% increase and a five-year period, applying the agreement from this year onwards, but refrained from talking about other matters.



Earlier, the Wall Street Journal cited a diplomat and reported that South Korea and the United States reached an agreement in a defense share agreement, which will remain in effect until 2026.



The Wall Street Journal said, however, that the diplomat did not mention specific figures for the increase in South Korea's contributions included in the new agreement.



Ambassador Chung Eun-bo visited Washington, DC, and has been negotiating with the United States to share defense costs since the 5th.



Ambassador Chung held a meeting for two days and was initially scheduled to return to Korea on the 7th, but as the negotiations increased by one day, the schedule for returning home to the 8th was delayed.



Although it is customary to make an appointment between the chief negotiating representatives, there is a possibility that the agreement will come on the occasion of US Secretary of State Tony Blincoln and Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin's visit to Korea.



Currently, the ROK-US authorities are coordinating plans for Ministers Blincoln and Austin to visit Japan on the 15th to 17th, and then to visit Korea on a two-day, one-night schedule from the 17th to the 18th.



In March of last year, Korea and the United States reached a tentative agreement on a plan to increase the share of Korea in 2020 by 13% from 1.38.9 trillion won in 2019 and by 7-8% over the next four years to reach about $1.3 billion in the last year. Is known.



However, this plan did not come to fruition as former President Trump adhered to the stance of a significant increase.