The foreign ministry on Wednesday admitted that a controversial part of a 2014 agreement to share costs for United States forces stationed in Korea was omitted from its report to the National Assembly for ratification.

The ministry's recent review of the agreement found that its implementation arrangement, under which Korea could provide more cash for facility construction based on consent between the countries, was not included in its bill submitted to the parliament at that time.

The additional arrangement had been drafted when the defense cost agreement was submitted for parliamentary ratification in January 2014. It was reported to the Assembly much later, after the agreement was approved in April.

"The task force concluded that this provided a source of suspicion of the existence of a behind-the-scenes agreement," a ministry official said.


"It is clear that the arrangement for cash provision was drafted at the time (of the parliamentary reporting) but was not reported. This can be interpreted as a failure to report fully and spawned suspicions of a cover-up," the official noted.

The official said the Korean side's commitment to tentative cash assistance had been promised apparently in consideration of the finance needed to build a Sensitive Compartmented Information Facility, a US military facility for intelligence gathering, including wiretapping.

But no cash offer has been made to the US under the 2014 deal, he said.

The allies renew the agreement to share US military upkeep costs every five years. Under the 2014 deal, the ninth of its kind, Korea agreed to pay around 1 trillion won ($930 million) every year over the next five years.

Currently, the foreign ministry is studying follow-up what actions could be taken over the review result, the official said, without elaborating on details.

But the actions under consideration could include further interrogation of or disciplinary measures against those who were responsible for negotiating the 2014 deal. Hwang Joon-kook, the sitting Ambassador to the United Kingdom, was the chief negotiator representing Korea at the time.

The revelation came as Korea and the US are poised to begin negotiations to renew the five-year agreement that expires at the end of 2018.

The allies are reportedly planning to begin their inaugural round of the negotiations in Hawaii next month.

The upcoming negotiation is expected to be unusually bumpy, as US President Donald Trump has explicitly downplayed Korea's financial contribution to the US defense of its Asian ally.

Defense Minister Song Young-moo said a day earlier that the US may demand that Korea share additional costs of the deployment of the American Terminal High Altitude Area Defense system in the South last year.

For the upcoming negotiations for the 10th defense cost sharing deal with the US, the ministry will open the whole negotiation process as transparently as possible to the press and the National Assembly, the official said.(Yonhap)