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AlJazeera (21 November 2019)

Countries are in talks over cost of 28,000 US troops in South Korea with President Trump saying Seoul should pay more.

The United States is considering a significant cut to its troop numbers in South Korea if Seoul does not contribute more to the cost of the deployment, South Korean newspaper Chosun Ilbo reported on Thursday.

The US broke off talks on defence costs with South Korea this week after demanding Seoul raise its annual contribution to $5bn, more than five times what it pays now, in a rare public display of discord in the alliance.

Neither side has publicly confirmed the numbers, but US President Donald Trump has said the US military presence in and around South Korea was "$5bn worth of protection".

"I understand that the US is preparing to withdraw one brigade in case negotiations with South Korea do not go as well as President Trump wants," a diplomatic source in Washington with knowledge of the negotiations was cited as saying by Chosun Ilbo.

Read more at: https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2019/11/considers-pulling-4000-troops-south-korea-report-191121033711289.html