Politics USA and South Korea agree on funding for US military presence

The USA and South Korea have reached a new agreement on the East Asian country's participation in funding the US military presence there. According to the South Korean news agency Yonhap, the agreement stipulates that South Korea's contribution will increase by 8.3 percent to 1.14 billion US dollars (around 1.03 billion euros) in the first year of the five-year agreement.

Further increases of a maximum of five percent per year are planned in the following years. The agreement, which is due to come into force in 2026, still has to be approved by the parliament in South Korea.

Concerns about Donald Trump's intervention allayed

Around 28,500 US troops are currently stationed in South Korea to deter possible North Korean aggression. "The agreement will be a significant achievement for both sides and will strengthen our alliance and our common defense," a US State Department spokesman said in a statement.

The current agreement would not have expired until next year, but the Biden administration pushed to finalize it before the US presidential election in November, partly to allay concerns in South Korea that a possible victory by Republican Donald Trump could complicate future negotiations.

SDA