Seoul, Feb 18 (UNI) A South Korea delegation headed by Defense Minister Jeong Kyeong-doo will head to Washington to hold talks with US defense chiefs on the contentious issue of cost-sharing for the upkeep of US troops on the peninsula, media reported on Tuesday.
Since early summer, Washington began demanding nations hosting their military bases to sharply increase spending on the upkeep, particularly in South Korea, where some 28,500 troops are stationed at any given time.
"All important defense issues will be discussed at the meeting, and the defense cost-sharing issue will be obviously one of them," a defense ministry official told reporters, according to The Korea Herald.
The sixth round of negotiations between Seoul and Washington fell through in mid-January, when the US side refused to waver from its demand for South Korea to increase its spending by 500 percent — to $5 billion.
South Korea and Japan, which is also under US pressure concerning the same issue, have agreed to increase their spending by around 8 percent, according to Voice of America.
The January breakdown in negotiations prompted Esper, alongside US Secretary of State Mark Pompeo, to publish an article in the Wall Street Journal in an attempt to persuade South Korea to hike its defense spending on US military presence, arguing it would benefit the country’s economy, as well as defensive prospects.
The Korea Herald reported that Jeong's six-day trip beginning on February 24 will also include a meeting with US veterans of the Korean War, as well as a visit to the Korean War Veterans Memorial to mark the 70th anniversary of the conflict.
UNI XC-RHK1256