WASHINGTON -- US Deputy Secretary of State Stephen Biegun said Wednesday that he would support a "substantial" US troop presence in South Korea if the two countries can agree on the issues of cost-sharing and the future of the alliance.

Biegun made the remark at a Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing after being asked by Sen. Chris Coons (D-DE) to address a recent news report that the Trump administration is weighing options to reduce troop levels in South Korea.

"There is a consensus in both Seoul and here in the United States that we need to rejuvenate the alliance," Biegun said, noting his trip to Seoul earlier this month.

Coons pressed the deputy secretary on whether a troop reduction would help rejuvenate that alliance or put it at risk.

"I think what we need to do with the alliance, Sen. Coons, is settle the issue of burden-sharing and how we fund the alliance, and then have also at the same time a strategic discussion to create a sustainable footing for that alliance for the next 75 years," Biegun answered. "If we were able to do so, I think a substantial presence in that region would strongly advance America's security interests in East Asia."

Biegun's comments appear to support speculation that the Trump administration could use a troop drawdown as leverage to get Seoul to pay vastly more for the 28,500-strong US force presence.

The allies' negotiations for a new cost-sharing agreement have stalled amid US demands that South Korea increase its payment by 50 percent to $1.3 billion.

Under last year's arrangement, which lapsed at the end of December, Seoul agreed to pay $870 million.

Biegun did not respond directly to Coons' question about his potential involvement in discussions about a troop reduction.

Instead, he referred to Defense Secretary Mark Esper's comments Tuesday that he has issued no orders to withdraw troops from the peninsula. The Pentagon chief also noted that he will continue to look at adjustments to deployments worldwide.

"In general, the US alliance on the Korean Peninsula plays an incredibly important role in anchoring our strategic interests in the region, not only in relation to North Korea but also potentially in relation to the challenges that could emanate from the People's Republic of China," Biegun said.

"I will say that it's an alliance that I spend a lot of time engaged with because of my dual hat on North Korea policy, and this is an issue that I had an opportunity to discuss with my South Korean counterparts just two weeks ago when I visited Seoul," he added, referring to his portfolio as the top US envoy for North Korea. (Yonhap)