Soldiers from 11th Engineer Battalion, 2nd Infantry Division connect ribbon bridges during a wet-gap crossing drill near the North Korean border, Aug. 31, 2023. (Christopher Green/Stars and Stripes)
CAMP HUMPHREYS, South Korea — U.S. and South Korean diplomats are meeting in Seoul this week for another round of negotiations on sharing the cost of stationing 28,500 troops in South Korea.
Representatives of the State Department and South Korean Ministry of Foreign Affairs kicked off three days of talks Wednesday to hash out the 12th Special Measures Agreement, or how much Seoul would contribute to keeping U.S. forces in the country.
Negotiators have held eight rounds of talks over the past five months to hash out the next six-year agreement before the current one expires at the end of next year.
The U.S. delegation is led by Linda Specht, lead negotiator for security agreements in the Bureau of Political-Military Affairs. Defense burden sharing representative Lee Taewoo has led the South Korean delegation.
The two sides started negotiations in Hawaii in April and last met in Seoul in August.
Washington and Seoul are negotiating the “reasonable level” of cost and assets to enhance the alliance, Foreign Ministry spokesman Lee Jae-woong said at a news conference Tuesday.
No significant issues have been presented during the negotiations thus far, Lee added.
Negotiations were deadlocked in 2020, when-President Donald Trump said the United States was spending $5 billion annually and accused Seoul of not paying its fair share.
Under the current arrangement, South Korea agreed to spend roughly $900 million in 2020 and over $1 billion in 2021. From 2022 to 2025, the amount would rise proportionally based on increases to South Korea’s annual defense budget.
Around $67 million from South Korea’s contribution defrayed the cost to build two new barracks that opened in June on Camp Humphreys, the largest U.S. military base overseas.
Those funds from the South Korean Defense Installation Agency also paid for gazebos and barbecue grills immediately outside the barracks.
