SEOUL, Nov. 22 (Xinhua) -- Foreign ministers of South Korea and the United States held phone talks Thursday night over the soon-to-expire military intelligence-sharing pact between Seoul and Tokyo, and how much South Korea would pay for U.S. troops stationed here, the Seoul's foreign ministry said Friday.
South Korean Foreign Minister Kang Kyung-wha and U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo exchanged opinions on the issues of mutual concern, including the General Security of Military Information Agreement (GSOMIA) and the defense cost-sharing for the U.S. Forces Korea (USFK), the ministry said in a statement.
The two ministers agreed to continue close communications on various issues in every level, sharing the need for them to sit down face-to-face for in-depth discussions in a foreseeable future.
The phone talks came ahead of the scheduled expiration on Saturday of the GSOMIA, which was signed by South Korea and Japan in November 2016 to share military intelligence on nuclear and missile programs of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK).
South Korea decided in August to terminate the military accord in response to Japan's tighter control in July over its export to South Korea of three materials, vital to produce memory chips and display panels that are the mainstay of the South Korean export.
Japan's export curbs came in an apparent protest against the South Korean top court's rulings that ordered some of Japanese firms to pay reparation to the South Korean victims who were forced into hard labor without pay during the 1910-45 colonization of the Korean Peninsula.
Negotiations on the 11th Special Measures Agreement (SMA) to decide how much South Korea would pay for the stationing of about 28,500 U.S. soldiers here were cut short on Tuesday.
The United States reportedly demanded around 5 billion U.S. dollars from South Korea for next year's upkeep cost for U.S. soldiers here. South Korea agreed to pay about 870 million U.S. dollars this year.
The 10th SMA, which was signed in March, was set to expire by the end of this year. Since 1991, South Korea has shared the defense cost for the USFK, including costs for South Korean civilians hired by the USFK, for construction of military facilities and for logistics support.
