In 2026, the 4th Special Measures Agreement (SMA) meeting to determine the burden of hosting U.S. troops in South Korea will be held in Seoul from the 25th to the 27th. A diplomatic official stated on the 24th that “the government plans to proceed with discussions under the position that our defense cost sharing for stable U.S. troop presence and strengthening of the ROK-U.S. combined defense posture should be carried out at a reasonable level.”
The meeting will be attended by South Korean chief negotiator for defense cost sharing, Itaeo Woo, and U.S. Senior Advisor at the Department of State, Linda Specht, along with diplomats and defense officials from both countries.
South Korea and the U.S. previously held 1st to 3rd meetings in Hawaii, Seoul, and Washington D.C. in April, May, and October, respectively. During these meetings, they exchanged views on mutual concerns and issues. While South Korea demands a “reasonable level of sharing,” the U.S. emphasizes the “necessity of cost sharing for maintaining defense readiness.”
Considering that the 4th meeting follows shortly after the 3rd meeting on the 13th, it is speculated that both sides have entered a phase of substantive negotiations. The South Korean government bears expenses such as wages for Korean workers employed by the U.S. military, construction costs of military facilities within U.S. bases, ammunition management, transportation support, and procurement of materials as part of the burden sharing for U.S. troops in South Korea.
South Korea and the U.S. signed the 11th SMA in March 2021. The effective 11th SMA until the end of 2025 agreed on a defense cost sharing amount of KRW 1,833 billion, which was a 13.9% increase from the previous year’s figure of KRW 1,389 billion. Starting from 2026, the results of the 12th SMA negotiation will be implemented annually to reflect the previous year’s defense budget growth rate.