South Korea and the United States agreed to pursue an early conclusion of their defense cost-sharing talks to help strengthen their alliance and defense posture during their video talks Friday, the foreign ministry said.
Seoul's top negotiator, Jeong Eun-bo, and his US counterpart, Donna Welton, led their first such meeting since last month's launch of the Joe Biden administration to advance their negotiations to determine Seoul's share of the cost for stationing the 28,500-strong US Forces Korea (USFK).
"Based on the spirit of the alliance, the two sides held earnest discussions to address differences that have continued and work out a mutually acceptable agreement," the ministry said in a press release.
"The two sides also agreed to work together to contribute to strengthening the South Korea-US alliance as a linchpin of peace and prosperity on the Korean Peninsula and in Northeast Asia and the combined defense posture by concluding the defense cost-sharing negotiations as early as possible," it added.
The two sides also agreed to hold the next round of talks in the near future and plan to discuss details for the future talks through diplomatic channels, the ministry said.
Since September 2019, the two sides have engaged in grueling negotiations to reach the defense cost-sharing deal, called the Special Measures Agreement (SMA).
But they failed to strike a new SMA amid the former Donald Trump administration's calls for a hefty increase in Seoul's payments, which deepened criticism of its focus on the monetary transactions in the alliance.
Seoul has insisted that a 13 percent increase from the 2019 SMA is the "best offer" it could make. Washington had asked the ally to pay US$1.3 billion a year, an increase of about 50 percent from the last deal.
The last one-year deal, which called for Seoul to pay about $870 million, already expired at the end of 2019.
With the change of government in Washington, hopes have emerged that the allies would move to quickly close gaps in the SMA talks and move forward to jointly tackle more pressing challenges ahead.
In his pre-election contribution to Yonhap News Agency, Biden vowed to strengthen the alliance with South Korea rather than "extorting Seoul with reckless threats to remove our troops."
In a written answer to questions from the Senate committee for his confirmation hearing last month, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin also pledged to seek the early conclusion of the SMA talks. (Yonhap)
