A Foreign Ministry official has expressed hope the parliament will endorse a new defense cost-sharing deal with the United States early next month.

The National Assembly’s Foreign Affairs and Unification Committee will hold a hearing on April fourth on a motion seeking the ratification of the deal. The motion is expected to be put to a floor vote on April fifth, the last day of the current extra parliamentary session. 

On March eighth, the two allies signed the one-year agreement that will raise South Korea's contribution for maintaining the 28-thousand-500-strong U.S. Forces Korea by eight-point-two percent from last year to about one-point-04 trillion won.

There is speculation the two countries will launch new negotiations within the first half of this year to decide on the size of the shared defense cost for next year and beyond.