Trump Demands South Korea Pay ‘Substantially More’ for Defense Costs

South Korea had just agreed to substantial increase this year

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.

Author: Jason Ditz

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.