Cho Tae-yeol said, "Based on the 12th result, if we request renegotiation of U.S. defense expenses."

Regarding the Korea-U.S. special agreement on sharing defense costs, Foreign Minister Cho Tae-yeol said, "Even if the U.S. requests renegotiation, it is advantageous for us to build on the results of the recently concluded negotiations."

In a comprehensive policy questionnaire of the National Assembly's Special Committee on Budget and Accounts today, Minister Cho said, "I understand that there has not been a direct response from Trump's side to the outcome of the negotiations."

The 12th Special Agreement on the Sharing of Defense Costs, which Korea and the U.S. agreed to last month, set South Korea's contribution in 2026 at 1.5 trillion won, up 8.3% from the previous year.

However, during the election, U.S. President-elect Trump insisted that the cost-sharing of U.S. troops stationed in South Korea should be drastically raised to $10 billion a year and about 14 trillion won in our money.

In this regard, Minister Cho stressed that it is urgent in terms of legal stability to ratify the National Assembly and put it into effect after the 12th round of negotiations.