Foreign Minister Yun Byung-se said a new negotiation may launch this year or early next year, amid concerns the U.S. will demand South Korea shoulder more cost for the deployment of the US Forces Korea.
 
Yun made the remark during a hearing convened by the National Assembly’s Foreign Affairs and Unification Committee on Monday. However, Yun also said the U.S. has not yet made any proposal about the schedule of new negotiations.
 
The current defense cost sharing between South Korea and the U.S. was settled through the eighth Special Measures Agreement(SMA) in 2014. The agreement will be effective until 2018, and the two countries will determine their cost sharing from 2019 and onward through a new negotiation.
 
Regarding the U.S. State Secretary Rex Tillerson’s remark during his Senate confirmation hearing that Seoul shoulders more than enough of the costs to keep American troops in South Korea, Yun said such a remark may reflect that the U.S. has significant knowledge that South Korea is shouldering the USFK-related cost sufficiently and in various ways.
 
Yun reiterated that South Korea has a fair share of the defense cost and it is contributing to security in many other ways beyond defense cost and will continue to do so.   

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