S. Korea, US May Reach Deal To Share Costs On US Troops Presence On Thursday - Lawmaker

S. Korea, US May Reach Deal to Share Costs on US Troops Presence on Thursday - Lawmaker

Seoul and Washington are nearing the end of negotiations on distribution of expenditures on the US military contingent in South Korea, and the deal may be reached later on Thursday, member of ruling South Korean Democratic Party Lee Soo-hyuck said.

MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 07th February, 2019) Seoul and Washington are nearing the end of negotiations on distribution of expenditures on the US military contingent in South Korea, and the deal may be reached later on Thursday, member of ruling South Korean Democratic Party Lee Soo-hyuck said.

"The defense cost sharing negotiations have entered their final stage. (The sides) have agreed to set the amount only for this year, and are in the process of narrowing their differences to around 1.05 trillion won [$0.93 billion]," Lee said as quoted by Yonhap news Agency adding that the deal may be signed later in the day.

In 2018, the presence of 28,500 US troops in South Korea cost Seoul about 960 billion won ($0.85 billion), the media outlet said.

Since 1991, Seoul under a special agreement with Washington have shared the cost of US military presence in the Asian country.

US President Donald Trump has repeatedly said that US allies must pay a fair price for the protection provided by the United States. In 2017, Trump informed South Korea that it should pay $1 billion for deployment of the US THAAD missile defense system aimed at defense against North Korea. However, later representatives of the Pentagon and the State Department said that the United States would pay for the deployment of the system.