Washington: Washington informed South Korea of its decision to end a waiver for development costs on certain US arms purchases, Yonhap News reported Sunday, citing sources. According to Anadolu Agency, the US reportedly told Seoul in August that it would no longer waive "non-recurring" costs (NCs), which are one-time expenses tied to research, development, or production of certain defense equipment. Under the US Arms Export Control Act, the Pentagon must recover the NCs for weapons sold through the Foreign Military Sales (FMS) program, as the US covers the initial costs with taxpayer money to develop or produce weapons. The law allows the costs to be waived in specific cases, such as advancing US interests in standardizing equipment with allies like South Korea, Japan, and Australia, and avoiding a situation in which the charge would result in the loss of the weapons sale. In the past, South Korea received the NC waiver, but its removal will raise costs as South Korea plans to spend $25 billion on US mili tary equipment by 2030. Japan, Australia, and other nations have also reportedly been notified about the waiver's end.