South Korea and the United States reach a principled agreement on the sharing of defense costs

　　Chinanews, March 9th, according to Korean media news, the South Korean government said a few days ago that South Korea and the United States have reached a "principle agreement" on the signing of the 11th "Special Agreement on Defense Cost Sharing", which will be announced after completing the internal reporting procedures. Related content and initial agreement.

The South Korean side called the agreement “reasonable, fair and acceptable to both parties,” while the US side said that South Korea’s share of the amount has increased.

　　The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of South Korea announced that "the negotiators of the South Korea and the United States negotiated and signed the 11th South Korea-US SMA Agreement based on the previous negotiation process and reached a principled agreement."

The South Korean side stated that the government will formally sign a defense cost agreement as soon as possible to fill the gap in the agreement for more than one year, and further consolidate the relationship between South Korea and the United States, and strengthen the joint defense situation between South Korea and the US.

　　The Bureau of Political and Military Affairs of the US State Department stated on the 8th that the agreement included a "negotiated increase" in the amount of South Korean contribution, but did not provide any details.

In addition, according to the “Wall Street Journal” report, although South Korean diplomats refused to disclose the specific content of the agreement, they revealed that the validity of the agreement may last until 2026.

　　South Korean media pointed out that there are opinions that considering that South Korea and the United States are coordinating and communicating the itinerary of US Secretary of State Blincoln and Secretary of Defense Austin's visit to South Korea next week, South Korea and the United States may officially announce the details of the defense cost sharing negotiations.

　　South Korea and the United States began negotiations on a new round of defense cost sharing in September 2019. At the end of March 2020, they reached an interim agreement on a 13% increase, but it was vetoed by the then U.S. President Trump.

　　On February 5, 2021, the 8th meeting of South Korea and the United States to sign the 11th special agreement on the sharing of defense costs between South Korea and the United States will be held in the form of a video conference.

This is also the first relevant meeting between South Korea and the United States after the Biden administration took office.

　　A few days ago, the South Korean Foreign Ministry's ambassador for the Korean-US defense cost sharing negotiations, Jeong Eun-fu, went to Washington, USA, and began the 9th round of negotiations with Donna Wilton, the defense cost sharing negotiator of the US State Department on March 5.