Ministry of Foreign Affairs: "Principled Agreement Reached on South Korea-US Defense Cost-Sharing Negotiations"

[Asia Economy Reporter Yoo In-ho] The Ministry of Foreign Affairs announced on the 7th that a principle agreement has been reached in the South Korea-US defense cost-sharing negotiations.

In a press release issued that day, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs stated, "After completing internal reporting procedures, both sides plan to proceed with an external announcement and provisional signing," and emphasized, "The government will contribute to resolving the agreement gap that has lasted for over a year through the prompt conclusion of the agreement, and to strengthening the ROK-US alliance and combined defense posture, which are the core pillars of peace and prosperity on the Korean Peninsula and in Northeast Asia."

The US Department of State also announced in a statement that the two countries have reached a principle agreement in the defense cost-sharing negotiations.

Neither the Ministry of Foreign Affairs nor the Department of State disclosed detailed terms of the agreement, such as the rate of increase.

Earlier, Jeong Eun-bo, the South Korea-US defense cost-sharing negotiation representative, visited Washington DC and held negotiations from the 5th to that day with the US side led by Dona Welton, the US Department of State's defense cost-sharing negotiation representative.

Ambassador Jeong was originally scheduled to hold meetings for two days and return home on that day, but as the negotiations extended by one day until that day, there was speculation that both sides had entered final coordination aiming for a negotiation settlement.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.