South Korea and the U.S. Accelerate Defense Cost-Sharing Negotiations

Second Round of Defense Cost-Sharing Talks to Take Place in Seoul Next Week
Former President Trump Mentions Defense Costs Again During Campaign

South Korea and the United States are accelerating the Special Measures Agreement (SMA) on defense cost-sharing. This is because former President Donald Trump has claimed that South Korea hardly contributed to the defense costs of the US Forces Korea and has indicated another increase in the contribution.

[Image source=Yonhap News]

According to government officials on the 14th, South Korea and the US plan to hold the second SMA meeting in Seoul early next week. The US negotiation delegation, including Linda Speck, Senior Advisor at the State Department, is expected to visit Korea over the weekend. The two countries held the first meeting from the 23rd to the 25th of last month in Honolulu, Hawaii, where they exchanged their basic positions. Since the negotiations started unusually early, both sides are reportedly in agreement on an early conclusion.

On the 12th, former President Donald Trump mentioned NATO member countries' defense spending during a rally in Wildwood, New Jersey, and spoke about South Korea for about 20 seconds. He said, "South Korea, we are paying for their military," and claimed, "We have 42,000 troops, and they hardly paid us anything." The actual average size of the US Forces Korea is about 28,500 troops.

During his tenure, in the 11th SMA negotiations in 2019, former President Trump demanded an increase of nearly six times the then South Korean contribution, up to 5 billion dollars. Since then, the two countries agreed to raise the contribution annually in line with South Korea's defense budget increase. Next year, South Korea is expected to contribute about 1.5 trillion won.