South Korea and the United States will hold a fifth round of talks this week to renew their defense cost-sharing agreement for the upkeep of U.S. Forces Korea(USFK) on the Korean Peninsula.

According to Seoul's foreign ministry, the negotiations for the 12th Special Measures Agreement(SMA) will be held in Seoul from Wednesday to Friday.

The latest talks come about just two weeks after the previous meeting held in Seoul in late June. 

The two sides held the first round of talks in Hawaii from April 23 to 25 to exchange their basic positions, followed by talks in late May in Seoul and  in early June in Washington D.C. 

The two sides seem to be speeding up negotiations ahead of the U.S. presidential election in November.
 
The current SMA is set to expire at the end of 2025.