By Joyce Lee and Ju-min Park
SEOUL (Reuters) -South Korea will follow terms previously agreed with the United States on defense cost sharing, its foreign ministry said on Wednesday, following a call by U.S.
President Donald Trump for Seoul to pay more for the U.S. troop presence in the country.
Just before Trump won the presidential election in November, the countries struck a new five-year plan on sharing the cost of keeping U.S.
troops in South Korea. Under the plan, Seoul would raise its contribution toward the upkeep of U.S. troops by 8.3% to $1.47 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% 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 U.S.
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 United States 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 on Wednesday he had suggested to the U.S.
that they advance discussions on a “package” of issues including “trade, investment, purchases and security” during his visit to Washington this week.
Wi told a press briefing that U.S.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio, his counterpart, agreed.
“It’s a fact that we pay 1.5 trillion won (annually) in defense costs… Discussions should start from this fact,” Wi told reporters after visiting the U.S., 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,” Wi said, adding that defense costs weren’t discussed much during this week’s visit.
Wi and Rubio agreed a summit meeting of the leaders of the countries would help advance cooperation, South Korea’s presidential office said.
(Reporting by Joyce Lee, Ju-min Park; Editing by Ed Davies, Philippa Fletcher)
