South Korea and US hold talks on defence cost sharing

Seoul: South Korea and the United States held a new round of negotiations Tuesday on sharing the costs for stationing American troops here.

The three-day talks through Thursday are aimed at determining how much Seoul should shoulder for the upkeep of the 28,500-strong U.S. Forces Korea (USFK), starting in 2026, reportsYonhap News Agency.

The talks are led by Lee Tae-woo, South Korea's chief negotiator from the foreign ministry, and his U.S. counterpart, Linda Specht from the State Department.

Tuesday's negotiations took place at the Korea Institute for Defence Analysis, joined by officials from South Korea's ministries of defense and finance and the arms procurement agency, and those from the Pentagon and the USFK.