Floor leaders of South Korea's political parties headed to the United States on Wednesday to discuss defense cost-sharing between the allies.  

Ruling Democratic Party floor leader Lee In-young departed for Washington for a five-day trip with his opposition counterparts Na Kyung-won of the main opposition Liberty Korea Party and Oh Shin-hwan from the Bareunmirae Party. 

During the trip, the floor leaders plan to meet with senior Trump administration officials and members of Congress in a bid to convince them that Washington is demanding an excessive rise in Seoul's share of costs for the upkeep of U.S. troops on the Korean Peninsula.

The parliamentarians plan to meet with key House and Senate lawmakers, including Charles Grassley, president pro tempore of the Senate and Finance Committee chair, Senate Foreign Relations Subcommittee on East Asia chair Cory Garner, and chair of the House Foreign Affairs Committee Eliot Engel. 

The floor leaders will also meet with U.S. Special Representative for North Korea Stephen Biegun.