S. Korea, US hold talks over upkeep cost-sharing for USFK

SEOUL - Negotiators from South Korea and the United States held talks in Seoul over the sharing of the upkeep cost for the US Forces Korea (USFK), South Korea's foreign ministry said Wednesday.

During the two-day talks through Wednesday, the South Korean side stressed that negotiations should go on under the framework of the Special Measures Agreement (SMA), a South Korea-US accord to share defense cost for some 28,500 US troops stationed here, according to the Seoul ministry.

South Korea also emphasized during the talks that the agreement should be reached in a fair, reasonable, mutually acceptable way that can strengthen the South Korea-US alliance.

South Korea and the United States agreed to closely continue negotiations to reach a mutually acceptable deal, the Seoul ministry said, adding that the two sides expanded the understanding of each other despite the lingering gap over various issues.

The next round of negotiations for the 11th SMA was set to be held in January in the United States. The 10th SMA, which was reached in March, was scheduled to expire by the end of this year.

Under the 10th SMA, South Korea paid 1.04 trillion won (about $890 million) this year for the stationing of US troops here, up 8.2 percent from last year.

The United States reportedly demanded about $5 billion from South Korea for next year's defense cost.

Since 1991, South Korea has shared the upkeep cost for US forces here, including costs for South Korean civilians hired by the USFK, for construction of military installations and for logistics support.