Trump: Seoul must pay all USFK costs

Seoul urged to pay all for US defense support

By Kim Hyo-jin

Donald Trump said Wednesday that U.S. allies should bear the full cost needed to station American troops on their soil.

His blatant disavowal of security guarantees to Seoul is stoking concerns that the security environment here might deteriorate, and the defense budget could surge.

Trump has long claimed that allies should pay more for U.S. defense support, or they will have to face a withdrawal of troops.

This time, he demanded that host countries pay the entire cost it takes to retain an American military presence.

“Of course they should pick up all the expenses. Why are we paying for this?” he said during a CNN interview, referring to South Korea and Japan.

When an interviewer pointed out that South Korea is paying 50 percent of the personnel cost for U.S. troops in the country, Trump asked, “Why not a 100 percent?”

He reiterated his long-running argument that allies should contribute to the cost the U.S. has spent on personnel and weaponry for their defense, warning of a potential withdrawal of U.S. troops unless they do so.

“They have to take care of us. If they don’t, we have to be prepared to walk,” Trump said. “They have to defend themselves against North Korea, the maniac we have over there.”

The remarks came after Trump became the presumptive nominee of the Republican Party after the last-remaining contender John Kasich dropped out of the candidacy race.

With the presidential competition expected to become a showdown between Trump and Hillary Clinton of the Democratic Party, Trump’s stance is raising concerns in South Korea.

Analysts expressed worries that his presumptive presidency would destroy the whole security apparatus in the Asia Pacific region.

“Trump’s presidency will have a serious impact on South Korea-U.S. relations,” said Sheen Seong-ho, a professor at the Graduate School of International Studies at Seoul National University.

“Trump is now touching upon the U.S.’s conventional isolationism rooted in the public mind and it is working. But he will have to find a compromise in his foreign policies if he actually takes power,” he added, wary of taking his recent remarks too seriously.

In 2014, Seoul renewed its cost-sharing accord, the Special Measures Agreement, with Washington.

It was first signed in 1991 to financially support the stationing of U.S. troops in South Korea and has been renewed nine times to adjust to bilateral interests and reflect inflation rates.

In the agreement, Seoul agreed to pay 920 billion won ($796 million) annually until 2018, an increase of 5.8 percent from 2013.

Gen. Vincent Brooks, the newly-appointed U.S. military commander in South Korea, testified on Capitol Hill during a committee held last month, that South Korea is paying $808 million annually for 28,500 U.S. troops here.

Brooks also said that it costs the U.S. less to have troops stationed in Korea than in the United States.