Under the terms of the agreement between the two countries, South Korea will pay about 14% more in 2021 to host US troops.
The last agreement between Seoul and Washington expired in 2019, but the two sides clashed in 2020 following Donald Trump’s request to increase the cost of US troops in South Korea fivefold.
The Associated Press reports that the low-cost increase in US forces in South Korea indicates that the Biden administration is seeking to improve relations with its main ally in East Asia.
Secretary of State Anthony Blinken and Lloyd Austin are scheduled to travel to Seoul and Tokyo next week.
American troops have been stationed in South Korea since the 1950-53 Korean Peninsula War. The conditions of residence of this group of American soldiers are determined by an agreement signed on January 26, 1950 between the two countries.