US military says S. Korean workers may be laid off amid row over costs

South Korea and US soldiers stand guard outside the conference building of United Nations Command Military Armistice Commission (UNCMAC) during a visit of South Korean Unification Minister Lee In-young to the south side of the truce village of Panmunjom in the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) dividing the two Koreas on Sept 16, 2020. The US on Friday (Oct 16) that the military will put nearly 9,000 South Korean workers on unpaid leave from April in the absence of an agreement on the sharing of costs of maintaining 28,500 US troops in South Korea, it has told the government. - AFP

SEOUL, Oct 16 (Reuters): The US military will put nearly 9,000 South Korean workers on unpaid leave from April in the absence of an agreement on the sharing of costs of maintaining 28,500 US troops in South Korea, it has told the government.

The allies are at odds over how much of the cost South Korea should shoulder to accommodate US Forces Korea (USFK), a legacy of the 1950-53 Korean War that ended in an armistice, not a peace treaty.