South Korea to pay about $866.6 million this year to retain US troops on its soil; Japan’s defense minister vows to defend the country’s territory as three Chinese government ships entered disputed waters off Tokyo-controlled islands in the East China Sea
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  • JANUARY 6- 12
    According to reports, South Korea has agreed to pay about $866.6 million this year to keep on its soil US troops who help guard against North Korean threat. This amount is up 5.8 percent from last year. The two allies also agreed on a maximum 4 percent annual increase in the amount until 2018. The South and the US have since 1991 shared the cost of hosting American troops, currently numbered at around 28,000 — the legacy of 1950-53 Korean War. The latest agreement which is the ninth since 1991 is subject to a parliamentary approval in Seoul. North Korea has for decades criticized the presence of US troops stationed across the South, calling them a major hurdle for peace-building with Seoul. 1
    In another development, according to reports, Japan’s defense minister vowed Sunday to defend the country’s territory as three Chinese government ships entered disputed waters off Tokyo-controlled islands in the East China Sea, the first such incident this year. The Chinese coast guard vessels sailed into the 12-nautical-mile territorial waters at about 8:30 am (2330 GMT Saturday) off one of the Senkaku islands, which China also claims and calls the Diaoyus, Japan’s coastguard said. They left less than two hours later. “We can never overlook repeated incursions into territorial waters,” Japanese Defence Minister Itsunori Onodera told reporters. “We need to make diplomatic efforts on one hand. We also want to firmly defend our country’s territorial sea and land with the Self-Defence Forces cooperating with the Coast Guard,” he added. Chinese state-owned ships and aircraft have approached the Senkakus on and off to demonstrate Beijing’s territorial claims, especially after Japan nationalized some of the islands in September 2012. It was the first time Chinese ships had been spotted since December 29 when three coast guard ships entered the zone and stayed for around three hours, the Japan Coast Guard said.” 2

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