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| U.S. President Donald Trump speaks during a Cabinet meeting at the White House, Tuesday (local time.) / AP |
By Lee Min-hyung
U.S. President Donald Trump said South Korea's payment for the U.S. troop presence will increase further only days after both sides signed a one-year deal for the defense cost sharing.
"Working with U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and National Security Adviser John Bolton, they (South Korea) agreed to pay, yesterday, $500 million (560 billion) more toward their defense," Trump said in a Cabinet meeting, Tuesday (local time).
On Sunday, Seoul and Washington signed the one-year provisional deal on defense cost sharing, called the Special Measures Agreement (SMA) for the upkeep of United States Forces Korea (USFK).
Under the 2019 SMA, the South will pay 1.04 trillion won toward the upkeep of stationing 28,500 U.S. troops here, up 8.2 percent from the previous year. This is an increase of 78.7 billion won, compared with last year, not the amount stated by Trump.
It remains unclear why the U.S. president made the remark with such an obviously factual error. But it is highly likely that he overstated the amount to score a political point there and raise his approval rating.
"They were paying about $500 million for $5 billion worth of protection," Trump said. "We have to do better than that. And over the years, it will start going up, and they will be terrific."
The remark came only a few days after Seoul and Washington signed this year's SMA.
The one-year agreement, however, does put pressure on South Korea, as it has to start negotiations for next year's SMA in the next few months.
When taking into account Trump's outward dissatisfaction on cost sharing, Washington is likely to demand Seoul bear more of the cost for the USFK upkeep.
"We defend them (South Korea) and lose a tremendous amount of money, billions of dollars a year defending them," he said.
Cheong Wa Dae said there still enough of a possibility that the new cost sharing agreement will last until the end of 2020.
"Under the latest defense cost sharing agreement, both sides came to terms on the one-year accord, but they also agreed to extend the current level of cost sharing for another year," presidential office spokesman Kim Eui-kyeom said in a media briefing.
Nothing has been mentioned about next year's SMA, he added, saying that therefore there was no reason to accept an increase in South Korea's payment next year as a fait accompli.
In the Cabinet meeting, Trump also underlined that he is on good terms with South Korean President Moon Jae-in, citing the ongoing peace momentum on the Korean Peninsula.
"We have a great relationship with President Moon," Trump said. "And we are doing great things, and North Korea is coming along."
The remark is also seen as part of Trump's efforts to speak highly of his contribution to North Korea's shift in its diplomatic stance.
Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un held a summit in June last year ― the first such meeting time since the 1950-53 Korean War.
They plan to hold their second summit for two days from Feb. 27 in Hanoi, Vietnam.
