Bill Hagerty, U.S. Senator (Republican, Tennessee), stated on the 10th (local time) that President-elect Donald Trump's mention of withdrawing U.S. troops from South Korea during his first term is "the way a businessman negotiates."
Hagerty, who is mentioned as a candidate for Secretary of State in the upcoming Trump administration, responded this way during an interview with CBS on the same day when asked, "President-elect Trump has talked about withdrawing U.S. troops from Japan and South Korea during his term. Is reducing U.S. troops in Asia a priority now?"
He said, "(Such questions) stem from White House senior officials not understanding how a businessman (President-elect Trump) negotiates," adding, "Everyone needs to sit down and discuss what the options are."
He continued, "We have stationed U.S. troops in the region since World War II and the Korean War," and said, "This investment, representing the American people, was made when these economies were collapsing at the time." He added, "They were developing countries, but today they are fully developed nations," emphasizing, "In this regard, I think it is appropriate for President-elect Trump to discuss (increasing defense cost-sharing, etc.)."
Regarding the host's remark that saying the alliance could be abandoned is not a positive message, he said, "I believe the message should be that our allies must contribute as much as possible to strengthen their (military) capabilities." He added, "We are witnessing this happening in Japan. Japan has decided to double its defense budget from 1% to 2% of its Gross Domestic Product (GDP)," and stated, "This is a positive development, and they are working to cooperate more closely with us."
He then emphasized, "This is the direction we need to go. The same applies to South Korea." Earlier, President-elect Trump argued that South Korea's defense cost-sharing for U.S. troops stationed there should be raised to $5 billion. In particular, during a White House meeting in 2019, he suggested the possibility of withdrawing U.S. troops from South Korea if a $5 billion agreement could not be reached.
Recently, President-elect Trump referred to South Korea as a "Money Machine" and also mentioned that South Korea should pay $10 billion (14 trillion won) in defense cost-sharing. This amount is more than nine times the defense cost-sharing agreed upon recently by the two countries. Previously, the two countries agreed to set the 2026 defense cost-sharing at 1.5192 trillion won, an 8.3% increase compared to 2025.
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