Anchor: The military chiefs of South Korea and the United States held annual talks in Seoul on regional security and alliance issues, including a soon-to-expire military intelligence-sharing pact between Seoul and Tokyo. The talks came just ahead of a scheduled meeting of the two nation’s defense ministers, during which a number of potentially difficult pending issues are expected to be discussed.
Kim Bum-soo reports.

Report: 

[Sound bite: S. Korean & US JCS Chairmen's honor guard inspection (Nov. 14 / S. Korean Defense Ministry)]

South Korean and U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairmen met as the two sides disagree over the fate of Seoul's GSOMIA intelligence sharing pact with Tokyo. 

After the honor guard inspection in Seoul Thursday morning, Gen. Park Han-ki and Gen. Mark A. Milley held the annual Military Committee Meeting(MCM). 

The meeting took place with an intelligence sharing pact between Seoul and Tokyo expiring next Friday, potentially putting trilateral cooperation between Washington and its two Northeast Asian allies at risk.  

Washington reportedly stressed the need to renew the accord during the meeting.

Seoul, in response, said it won't retract the decision unless Tokyo withdraws its trade restrictions in apparent retaliation over colonial-era grievance issues, and asked Washington to help resolve the row.

After Thursday's MCM, the two JCS chiefs will bring their conclusions to the bilateral Security Consultative Meeting(SCM) Friday, which South Korean Defense Minister Jeong Kyeong-doo and U.S. Secretary of Defense Mark Esper will attend.   

At the upcoming meeting of their defense chiefs, Seoul and Washington also need to iron out differences over the issue of defense costs. 

The Trump administration is reportedly pressuring South Korea to pay nearly five billion U.S. dollars annually for the upkeep of U.S. forces station in South Korea. 

That's more than five times the amount Seoul agreed to pay for this year under a one-year deal.
Kim Bum-soo, KBS World Radio News.