The United States has reportedly proposed South Korea pay one billion dollars for the upkeep costs of 28-thousand-500 American troops stationed on the Korean Peninsula with the cost-sharing agreement renewed every year.
According to a government source familiar with the matter on Tuesday, the U.S. government conveyed the proposal to the Seoul government on December 28th through U.S. Ambassador to Seoul Harry Harris.
The Trump administration reportedly conveyed its position that the proposal is effectively its ultimatum.
South Korea is said to have notified that it cannot accept the proposal, citing that it would be a 15 percent on-year increase and the one-year contract is not acceptable.
The U.S. ultimatum came about two weeks after the two allies held their tenth round of negotiations for the bilateral Special Measures Agreement, which specifies South Korea's monetary contributions to the non-personnel costs of hosting the U.S. military and has been updated every five years since 1991.
Under the five-year contract which expired in December, Seoul's share for last year was around 960 billion won or 856 million dollars, which was about half of the total cost.