South Korea and the United States on Wednesday reached an
agreement on how to share the cost of maintaining US troops in the
country, the South Korean Foreign Ministry said.
"The results of the negotiations this time would not fully
satisfy either side, but those are regarded as the most reasonable
based on the spirit of the South Korea-US alliance," said a press
release by the ministry.
The agreement was made during a telephone talks between chief
negotiators of the two sides, the ministry said.
According to the ministry, South Korea agreed to contribute a
total of 725.5 billion won (US$780 million) next year to the cost
of US Forces Korea (USFK), up 45.1 billion won from this year.
South Korea also agreed to increase its contribution in 2008
inline with inflation under the two-year contract, the ministry
added.
The agreement will take effect after being approved by the
National Assembly by the end of this year.
South Korea and the United States have conducted six rounds of
negotiations on the issue since May this year. In the past five
rounds of negotiations, the two sides failed to reach consensus due
to differences over the proportion of Seoul's burden as well as the
duration of a contract.
The South Korean government had insisted to cut down its burden
for the coming years as Washington has decided to reduce its troops
in South Korea from the current 30,000 to 25,000 by 2008, while the
US side asked Seoul to allocate more expenses in line with the
development of South Korea's economic power.
The US had sought a long-term contract to save time spent for
related negotiations and secure its military budget. But South
Korea wanted to sign a deal effective for two or three years.
There are about 30,000 US troops stationed in South Korea. The
United States plans to scale back the number to around 25,000 by
2008 as part of its global troop realignment plan.
Under an earlier agreement between Seoul and Washington, South
Korea provides 680.4 billion won (US$708 million) each year from
2005 to 2006 to assist the US troop presence.
(Xinhua News Agency December 7, 2006)
