SEOUL SEEKS TO RESUME DEFENSE COST TALKS

[Anchor Lead]

U.S. President-elect Joe Biden has pledged to mend Washington's relations with its allies. Seoul hopes the stalled talks over defense cost sharing between South Korea and the U.S. will finally find a breakthrough.

[Pkg]

Last year the South Korean government paid nearly 1.4 trillion won for hosting U.S. troops. That's one-third of the total cost. The allies have always been negotiating how much Korea should pay for hosting American troops, and the raised amount has never exceeded 10 percent. But in recent talks the Trump administration has demanded Seoul pay 400 percent more. The tentative agreement concluded by working-level officials was also scrapped. President Trump seems to be prioritizing financial gains over the alliance.

[Soundbite] DONALD TRUMP(U.S. PRESIDENT(OCT. 2019)) : "Joe Biden has pledged to strengthen Washington's ties with its allies. He even pointed out that Trump attempted to "extort" money from South Korea by raising defense costs. The defense cost sharing talks between Seoul and Washington, which have been stalled since last September, are expected to find a breakthrough once the Biden administration comes to power."

[Soundbite] JOE BIDEN(U.S. PRESIDENT-ELECT(DURING VISIT TO KOREA IN 2013)) : "Pundits say Washington will likely try to reflect its national interests in the negotiations as always, but the amount is unlikely to be raised by more than 10 percent -- the same rate at which Seoul expands its national defense budget."

[Soundbite] SUH WOOK(DEFENSE MINISTER) : "It seems the amount could decrease compared to what the Trump administration had demanded. But it should be higher than the existing amount."

South Korea plans to resume defense cost sharing talks shortly after the new U.S. leader begins his term. However, the Biden administration will likely extend the current terms and conditions by another year before beginning negotiations, as it has many other pending issues to resolve.