In new comments on Wednesday, President Trump has demanded that South Korea pay “substantially more” to the US for defending them from
North Korea. If that sounds familiar, it’s because President Trump has
been repeatedly making that argument since his election.
Indeed, as Trump himself pointed out of Twitter, South Korea agreed last
year to a substantial increase in what it pays to the US, raising it to
$990,000,000 per year. Though Trump credited himself for getting this
much money, he also demanded even more.
That’s likely to be a tough sell, since South Korea had already agreed
to an increase last year and then had to start negotiations all over
when Trump got involved and started demanding dramatically more.
Moreover, these are meant to be multi-year agreements, and last year
just happened to be when it was up for re-negotiation. It’s not intended
to be up for review every single year, and certainly isn’t intended as
an annual opportunity for the US to push for more money.
Trump Demands South Korea Pay ‘Substantially More’ for Defense Costs
South Korea had just agreed to substantial increase this year
Jason Ditz is Senior Editor for Antiwar.com. He has 20 years of experience in foreign policy research and his work has appeared in The American Conservative, Responsible Statecraft, Forbes, Toronto Star, Minneapolis Star-Tribune, Providence Journal, Washington Times, and the Detroit Free Press.
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