South Korea and the United States will hold another round of talks next week on sharing the cost of American troops stationed in South Korea.
Seoul's Foreign Ministry said Friday that the two-day meeting concerning the bilateral Special Measures Agreement(SMA) will open in Seoul next Tuesday.
The two sides aim to conclude negotiations as well as parliamentary ratification procedures before the existing agreement on defense cost sharing expires at the end of the year.
The talks will be led by Foreign Ministry point person on the defense cost issue Chang Won-sam and his U.S. State Department counterpart Timothy Betts, with defense ministry officials from both countries also taking part.
Seoul's share of the cost of stationing U.S. troops in the country for this year stands at over 960 billion won.
Starting with the very first agreement in 1991, the allies have signed the SMA nine times so far.
The current ninth agreement struck in 2014 expires on December 31st.