SEOUL, Oct. 16 (Xinhua) -- South Korea and the United States on Tuesday started talks on how to share the defense costs of U.S. forces stationed in South Korea, according to Seoul's foreign ministry.
The two-day negotiations were launched in central Seoul to reach a new deal on South Korea's financial contribution to the U.S. Forces Korea (USFK).
The negotiation period can be extended, if necessary, as the current deal was set to expire by the end of this year, the Seoul ministry said.
In consideration of the time needed for the parliamentary approval, the talks are required to be wrapped up within this month.
South Korea paid about 960 billion won (850 million U.S. dollars) this year to share cost for the U.S. troops stationed here, but the U.S. side demanded raising the share to as much as 1.5 trillion won (1.3 billion U.S. dollars), according to local media reports.
About 28,500 U.S. troops are stationed in South Korea as a legacy of the 1950-53 Korean War, which ended with armistice.
The South Korean side was led by Chang Won-sam, a career diplomat who served as ambassador to Sri Lanka, and the U.S. side was headed by Timothy Betts, deputy assistant secretary of state for plans, programs and operations.
