The U.S. and South Korea have tentatively reached a military cost-sharing agreement, the Yonhap news agency reported, potentially ending months of bickering over demands from the administration of U.S. President Donald Trump for a massive increase.
The announcement could come as early as Wednesday, the Seoul-based news service reported, citing a South Korean government official it didn’t identify. The two sides agreed to sign a multiple-year contract rather than another stopgap one-year deal, it said.
The seven-decades-old military alliance was dealt a blow Wednesday when the U.S. military put almost half of its 8,500 South Korean civilian workers on furlough due to the funding dispute. Gen. Robert Abrams, commander of U.S. Forces Korea, called the furloughs "heartbreaking” and "unfortunate,” saying in a statement the move was "not what we envisioned or hoped what would happen.”
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