한미, 10차 방위비 분담협정, 최종합의엔 이르지 못해<br /><br />South Korea and the U.S. have met several times this year to try and reach a new deal on sharing the costs of stationing American troops here.<br />The existing deal expires in just a couple of weeks at the end of the year.<br />But after meeting in Seoul again this week, the allies still haven't figured it out.<br />Park Ji-won has the latest. <br />The latest round of negotiations on the defense cost sharing between South Korea and the U.S. have ended without resulting in a final agreement.<br />According to a foreign ministry official Friday morning,... the two allies failed to agree on some of the key issues during the three-day talks held in Seoul until Thursday,... including exactly how much South Korea will pay for defense cost sharing.<br />The official said, there is still a clear difference between the two sides' positions on Seoul's financial contribution,.... towards the stationing of some 28-thousand American troops on the Korean Peninsula.<br />Under the existing deal, South Korea contributed around 850 million U.S. dollars this year alone,... which is about 50 percent of the total cost of having U.S. troops stationed here.<br />However, according to a report by the Wall Street Journal,... the Trump administration is reportedly calling for South Korea to make a larger financial contribution,... asking for an about 150 percent increase from the current level. <br />The South Korean official said,... the Korean government is willing to assume a reasonable and rational level of burden. <br />The official added that Seoul and Washington will continue close consultations through diplomatic channels,... and additional rounds of talks might be held, if necessary,... probably as early as next month.<br />Since March this year,... the two sides held ten rounds of negotiations,... led by Ambassador Chang Won-sam and his U.S. counterpart Timothy Betts,.... to sign the new Special Measures Agreement, or SMA,... bilateral agreement between the two allies on sharing defense costs.<br />Under the SMA,... South Korea pays for South Koreans working at U.S. military bases in the country, as well as costs related to facility construction and logistics.<br />The two sides are pressed for time,.. as the current five-year SMA,... signed in early 2014,... will expire at the end of this month. <br />If the two allies fail to reach the deal by the end of the year, the wages of some eight-thousand South Korean workers at the U.S. military bases could be affected.<br />The official said the two sides are doing their best to minimize any impact on the civilian workers. <br />Park Ji-won, Arirang News. <br />
