Seoul, Washington Agree to 'Formulated' Settlement of Defense Cost Sharing

, Korea and the United States have agreed to seek a formula for division of their costs to keep U.S. troops in Korea, the Korean Embassy in Washington said in a released statement. 
 
The agreement came at a Wednesday (Jan. 3) meeting between Korean Foreign Minister Song Min-soon and Deputy Defense Secretary Gordon England in Washington, the statement said. 
 
“Minister Song suggested the sides work to come up with a way, in which they can simply put objective data (into a formula) and the size of their cost sharing would automatically be calculated,” the embassy said in the statement. 
 
“Deputy Secretary England said it was a very reasonable idea,” it said. 
 
Song and the U.S. official agreed to arrange such a formula before the end of the year, it added. 
 
About 30,000 U.S. soldiers are currently stationed in Korea, a legacy of the 1950-53 Korean War. But the issue of how to divide the costs for maintaining the troops has often been a source of long negotiations and heated debates between the two allies, as well as public protests in both countries. 
 
The two officials also agreed their countries need to set a date as soon as possible for the transfer of wartime operational control of Korean troops back to the Korean government, according to the embassy statement. 
 
Song said the envisioned handover of the wartime control would not force Washington to withdraw its forces from Korea, or “get off their joint ride.” Critics of the plan have claimed the handover would lead to such a withdrawal. 
 
Seoul and Washington “would simply change their seats in the same vehicle,” Song was quoted as saying. 
 
The Korean foreign minister is on a six-day visit to the United States, which began Monday. 
 
He attended the state funeral of the late U.S. President Gerald R. Ford Tuesday, and is scheduled to hold an official meeting with his U.S. counterpart Condoleezza Rice on Friday before heading home the next day, according to his ministry.