The White House is expected to demand a significant increase in defense spending from its Asian allies, including South Korea, following similar requests made to NATO member states.
On June 26 (local time), White House spokesperson Caroline Levitt was asked during a briefing whether NATO's decision to boost defense spending would influence negotiations with Asian allies. She responded, "If our European allies, our NATO allies, can do it, I believe our allies and friends in the Asia-Pacific region can do it as well."
She added that specific details would be addressed by President Donald Trump.
The previous day, at a summit held in The Hague, Netherlands, NATO adopted a joint statement agreeing to increase the defense spending of its 32 member states to 5% of their GDP by 2035. Of this amount, 3.5% of GDP will be allocated to core defense needs, while 1.5% will be used for indirect costs such as protecting critical infrastructure, network defense, and strengthening the defense industrial base.
According to South Korea's Ministry of National Defense, South Korea's defense budget for this year is approximately 2.32% of its GDP.
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