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US President Donald Trump during a briefing of the White House COVID-19 task force on Apr. 21. (Yonhap News)

South Korean and US negotiators reached an agreement to increase South Korea's share of defense costs this year by 13% from last year, but the plan was scrapped after US President Donald Trump objected, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) reported to the National Assembly on Apr. 22.

The information was shared in a meeting with reporters by National Assembly Foreign Affairs and Unification Committee Chairperson Yoon Sang-hyun -- who exited the United Future Party (UFP) ahead of the general elections – following a closed-door meeting with MOFA officials earlier that day.

According to Yoon's explanation, Trump initially insisted that South Korea would need to pay US$5 billion in the agreement. In actual negotiations, South Korean and US foreign affairs officials agreed on a plan that would increase South Korea's share by around 13% from the 10th Special Measures Agreement (SMA). The increase of 13% from last year would bring the total share of defense costs to 1.17 trillion won (US$950.5 million). MOFA officials explained that day that the South Korean and US foreign ministers both approved the 13% increase, Yoon said.

"The final plan with the 13% increase was put before [Trump] as having been approved at the ministerial level, and yesterday or sometime around then, Trump said that it wasn't enough,” he explained.

"But [the US] hasn't indicated its intentions to pursue negotiations right now or anything like that,” he added.

Yoon's account suggests that the final provisional agreement reached by the two sides’ foreign affairs officials after months of negotiations ended up running aground at the last minute with Trump's objections. Indeed, in remarks about the defense cost sharing negotiations on Apr. 20, Trump said, “[South Korea] offered us a certain amount of money and I’ve rejected it.”

Regarding whether the negotiation officials’ provisional agreement on the plan for US$1 billion included any side contracts for US weaponry purchasing or other areas, Yoon said, "[MOFA] maintains there were no concessions [from South Korea] or side contracts whatsoever.”

By Noh Ji-won, staff reporter

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