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The United States and South Korea announced Sunday that they had reached a “in principle” agreement on a new cost-sharing plan for American troops on the Korean Peninsula.
The State Department’s Bureau of Political-Military Affairs said in a Twitter post that South Korea had “negotiated an increase” in support for U.S. troops’ presence, but did not elaborate.
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According to the Wall Street Journal, which broke the news of the deal first, it will last until 2025.
According to the Associated Press, the United States has approximately 28,000 troops stationed in South Korea to protect against the threat posed by North Korea as a result of the 1950-1953 Korean War.
Under former President Trump, who wanted South Korea to pay more, relations between the two countries had become strained over the Special Measures Agreement.
Before settling on a $924 million payment in 2019, Trump demanded that Seoul increase its contribution to $1.6 billion.
A request for comment from Axios was not immediately returned.
New Special Measures Agreement proposed text includes @StateDeptPM negotiated increase in ROK support for @USForcesKorea presence; reaffirms U.S.-ROK Alliance as the linchpin of peace, security, and prosperity for Northeast Asia, a free and open #IndoPacific, and across the world pic.twitter.com/F6K2zx0dFc
— Political-Military Affairs, US Dept of State (@StateDeptPM) March 7, 2021
