On June 10 (local time), South Korea and the United States began their third round of negotiations in Washington D.C. for the 12th Special Measures Agreement (SMA) on defense cost-sharing for the U.S. forces in Korea, which will take effect from 2026.
The negotiations will continue until June 12. The Korean delegation includes Lee Tae Woo, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs’ chief negotiator of defense cost-sharing, and officials from the Ministry of National Defense, the Ministry of Economy and Finance, and the Defense Acquisition Program Administration. The U.S. team includes Linda Specht, Senior Advisor at the State Department, and officials from the State Department, Department of Defense, and U.S. Forces Korea.
Previously, the two countries held their first and second meetings in Hawaii, USA in April and Seoul last month, respectively.
In the third meeting, both sides are expected to enter detailed negotiations to reconcile the differences based on the basic stances presented through the first and second meetings.
Before the third meeting, the South Korean Ministry of Foreign Affairs stated, “Our contribution to defense costs should be made at a reasonable level for the stable stationing of U.S. Forces Korea and the strengthening of the Korea-U.S. joint defense readiness.”
The U.S. State Department has also expressed its hope for continued efforts towards a “mutually acceptable agreement.” After the first meeting, the U.S. stated that both countries had presented their visions, and described the second negotiation as productive and substantive.
Since 1991, South Korea has been signing the SMA with the U.S. and sharing part of the costs for maintaining U.S. Forces Korea, including labor costs (wages for Korean employees of USFK), military construction costs (facility construction within U.S. military bases), and logistic support costs (service and material support).
The current 11th SMA is effective from 2020 to 2025. The defense cost-sharing for 2021 determined by the 11th SMA is approximately $857 million, an increase of 13.9% from 2020. From the following year until 2025, it was agreed to increase the defense budget each year to reflect the previous year’s defense budget increase rate.
The results of the 12th SMA negotiation meetings will be applied from 2026.