Speaking at an interview with the Economic Club of Chicago and Bloomberg News on Tuesday, he claimed that South Korea would be paying US$10 billion annually for the upkeep of U.S. Forces Korea (USFK) if he were still in office.
Trump said, "If I were there now, they'd be paying us $10 billion a year. And you know what? They'd be happy to do it."
"South Korea, they're wonderful people, extremely ambitious. They have a money machine. We protect them [South Korea] from North Korea and others. North Korea is very nuclear — I got along with him [Kim Jong-un] very well. But they [South Korea] don't pay us anything, and I said, 'This is crazy,'" he added, boasting about the efforts he made during his presidency to push South Korea to increase its contribution.
"We have 40,000 troops in harm's way, very serious, because you have North Korea is a very serious power. They have tremendous nuclear power," he said, referring to the 28,500 American soldiers stationed here. "I said to South Korea you got to pay and they agreed to do it. Biden then cut it back, and it's a shame."
His latest remarks can be interpreted as similar antics he used to resort to during his presidency. In 2019, Trump had demanded $5 billion a year from Seoul, an amount nearly six times higher than the previous year's defense cost-sharing that Korea had been paying. He is now proposing an exorbitant hike to $10 billion, which is nearly nine times higher than the current cost-sharing agreement between the two countries.
After rounds of defense cost-sharing talks, South Korea and the U.S. recently reached an agreement for an 8.3 percent increase, with Seoul shouldering 1.52 trillion won ($1.14 billion) in costs, an arrangement that will remain in effect until 2030.
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