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US President Donald Trump

US President Donald Trump is directly pressuring South Korea to increase its share of defense costs for US troops in the country. He appears set on increasing South Korea’s share in advance of a meeting between the defense ministers of both countries. On Aug. 7, Trump took to Twitter with a stream of statements pressuring South Korea to increase its share of defense costs for US troops. However, many of his statements just didn’t correspond with reality. “Talks have begun to further increase payments to the United States,” Trump wrote, further adding that “South Korea [. . .] now feels an obligation to contribute to the military defense provided by the United States of America.” These statements, however, are in contrast to statements made by South Korea’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, which said that such talks have not yet begun. Trump appears to be, in effect, putting the cart before the horse.

Trump further stated that "We've got 32,000 soldiers on South Korean soil, and we've been helping them for about 82 years. And we get nothing. We get virtually nothing” and that this was very “unfair.” It is unclear where Trump pulled “82 years” from. It is also untrue that the US has received “nothing” from South Korea. South Korea accepted a demand by the US to increase its share of defense spending by 8.2% to 1.04 trillion won (US$860.28 million) this year. Even if Trump’s statements are aimed at pressuring Seoul to increase its share of defense spending, such exaggerations only harm the South Korea-US alliance.

Facing a presidential election next year, Trump is likely to push for a major increase in defense spending from Seoul to show the US electorate he is getting results. Some time ago, the US was reported to have demanded a US$5 billion increase in Seoul’s defense spending this year. The amount was so ridiculously high it was impractical, but if negotiations begin the US may actually push for such an increase. As such, the South Korean government must prepare. US Defense Secretary Mark Esper is expected to meet with South Korean diplomatic and national security heads to transmit Trump’s views during his trip to South Korea. South Korean leaders must clearly indicate that such an excessively high cost is unacceptable.

While Trump has suggested that US troops in South Korea are focused on protecting South Korea from North Korea, that’s just one small part of the bigger picture. US Forces Korea (USFK) play a central role in US strategic interests in East Asia, and South Korea thus contributes a great deal to US objective in the region. The South Korean government must use clear rationales and justifications to firmly respond to pressure from the Trump administration. There’s a high likelihood that issues surrounding South Korea’s deployment of military forces to the Hormuz Strait or the stationing of intermediate-range missiles will come up during Esper’s visit. South Korea’s leaders must ensure that they give priority to protecting the country’s national interests above all else.

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