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Chung Eun-bo (left), South Korea’s special envoy for defense cost-sharing negotiations with the US, and Donna Welton (right), the senior advisor for security negotiations and agreements in the Bureau of Political-Military Affairs at the US State Department, met Sunday in Washington to discuss the 11th Special Measures Agreement.

South Korea and the US ended a protracted impasse in their defense cost-sharing negotiations Monday. The breakthrough comes just one month after the inauguration of US President Joe Biden, who has stressed repairing the US alliances. This is regarded as the first concrete step toward normalizing the two countries’ alliance.

In a press release Sunday, South Korea’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said the two sides had reached an “agreement in principle” during three days of talks with the US about their 11th Special Measures Agreement (SMA). The talks were held in Washington from Friday to Sunday.

The two sides plan to initial the agreement and announce it publicly after an internal review process, the Ministry said.

The talks were led by Chung Eun-bo, South Korea’s special envoy for defense cost-sharing negotiations with the US, and by Donna Welton, the senior advisor for security negotiations and agreements in the Bureau of Political-Military Affairs at the US State Department.

This was the first time in a year that the two countries had held face-to-face negotiations for their defense burden-sharing agreement since their seventh round of negotiations in Los Angeles in March 2020.

Following Biden’s inauguration, the two sides held an eighth round on Feb. 5, over video, preceding the most recent round of talks.

“During this round of face-to-face talks, the first held since the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic a year ago, negotiators from the two countries proceeded with what had been previously discussed with the aim of concluding our 11th [SMA],” the Ministry said.

“By quickly concluding the agreement, our government hopes to end the hiatus in the agreement that has now lasted for over a year and to continue to help strengthen our two countries’ joint defense posture and our alliance, which is a linchpin for peace and prosperity on the Korean Peninsula and in Northeast Asia.”

The Ministry only mentioned an “agreement in principle” without disclosing any of its details. The Wall Street Journal quoted a diplomat as saying that the latest SMA would last through 2026.

As for how much South Korea will increase its financial burden, multiple sources told CNN last month that the two sides were likely to agree to a multiyear deal that would raise the amount by 13%.

In March 2020, the two countries had reached a provisional agreement raising South Korea’s financial burden by 13%, from 1.04 trillion won (US$919.1 million) in 2019. But the year ended without a final agreement being reached because then-US President Donald Trump continued pushing for a bigger increase.

The public announcement and the initialing of the agreement are expected to take place during a visit to South Korea by US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin. They will reportedly be stopping by Korea after a visit to Japan on March 15-17.

Chung Eun-bo had originally planned to return to South Korea on Sunday, after two days of talks with Welton on Friday and Saturday, but he extended the talks by one day and delayed his return until Monday.

By Hwang Joon-bum, Washington correspondent

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