The top United States negotiator in defense cost-sharing talks with South Korea arrived in Seoul on Sunday for a fifth round of negotiations this week.
 
Arriving at Incheon International Airport earlier in the day, James DeHart of the U.S. State Department did not answer reporters' questions regarding the U.S. position in the negotiations.
 
DeHart and his South Korean counterpart Jeong Eun-bo will sit down for two-day talks in Seoul set for Tuesday and Wednesday to discuss how the allies will share the cost for the upkeep of the 28-thousand-500 personnel stationed with U.S. Forces Korea. They last met in Washington early this month.
 
The United States is reportedly demanding South Korea pay five billion dollars to maintain U.S. armed forces and assets on the Korean Peninsula.
 
Though the two sides have been striving to conclude the deal by the end of this year when the current one-year accord expires, they are likely to miss the deadline as they still remain far apart over the amount of Seoul's contributions.