SEOUL, July 9 — South Korea will follow terms previously agreed with the United States (US) on defense cost sharing, its foreign ministry said today, following a call by US President Donald Trump for Seoul to pay more for the US troop presence in the country.
Just before Trump won the presidential election in November last year, the countries struck a new five-year plan on sharing the cost of keeping US troops in South Korea. Under the plan, Seoul would raise its contribution toward the upkeep of US troops by 8.3 per cent to US$1.47 billion (RM6.24 billion) in the first year.
Trump said America's Asian ally should be paying for its own military protection, a day after saying he planned to impose a 25 per cent tariff on imports from South Korea.
"Our government is committed to complying with and implementing the 12th SMA (Special Measures Agreement), which has been valid and went into effect," the ministry said in a statement, in which it declined to comment further on Trump's remarks.
Trump has accused Seoul of "free-riding" on US military might, with some 28,500 American troops stationed in South Korea as part of efforts to deter nuclear-armed North Korea.
With South Korea and the US engaged in tariff negotiations, the new Lee Jae-myung administration wants to expedite the talks ahead of a new August 1 deadline.
South Korea's top security adviser Wi Sung-lac said today that he had suggested to the US that they advance discussions on a "package" of issues including "trade, investment, purchases and security" during his visit to Washington this week.
He told a press briefing that his counterpart, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, agreed.
"It is a fact that we pay 1.5 trillion won (annually) in defence costs... Discussions should start from this fact," Wi told the press after visiting the US, according to Yonhap.
"Additionally, there are many direct and indirect defence support costs, and we are also trying to increase them in line with the international trend," he said, adding that defence costs were not discussed much during this week's visit.
Wi and Rubio agreed that a summit meeting of the leaders of the countries would help advance cooperation, South Korea's presidential office said.
— Reuters
