Recently, the U.S. media criticized former U.S. President Donald Trump’s remarks regarding South Korea’s defense cost sharing, pointing out multiple errors. CNN reported on the 5th that they analyzed Trump’s recent interview with Time magazine and confirmed at least 32 errors in his statements.
In the interview published last month on the 30th (local time), former President Trump implied that if South Korea does not increase its defense cost sharing, there might be a withdrawal of U.S. troops stationed in South Korea, saying, “There is no reason to help a wealthy country like South Korea.” He claimed that South Korea did not contribute much to defense costs before his tenure and continues to pay minimal amounts through renegotiations with the Biden administration.
This has raised concerns that if Trump is re-elected, there could be increased pressure on South Korea to significantly raise the defense cost sharing for U.S. troops stationed in the country, leading to discussions on troop withdrawal or reduction. During his tenure, Trump had pressured South Korea to bear almost the entire cost.
However, CNN pointed out the inaccuracies in Trump’s statements, stating, “Before his presidency, South Korea had not paid too little for the defense costs of the 40,000 U.S. troops stationed in South Korea,” as Trump claimed. They highlighted that by the end of 2016, just before Trump took office, there were 26,878 U.S. troops stationed in South Korea, and by the end of December 2018, before signing a new defense cost-sharing agreement, the number of U.S. troops had increased to 29,389.
CNN also refuted the claim that South Korea had not paid much for defense costs before Trump’s presidency, stating, “South Korea paid 867 million dollars for the U.S. troops’ defense costs in South Korea in 2014 and agreed to increase this amount annually in line with the inflation rate until 2018,” adding, “According to a report by the Congressional Research Service (CRS) last year, South Korea generally bears 40-50% of the costs related to the stationing of U.S. forces in South Korea, excluding personnel expenses.”
Furthermore, CNN criticized the assertion that the Biden administration had effectively not required the South Korean government to pay anything, stating that it was unrelated to reality. They pointed out that Trump’s claim that South Korea had agreed to pay billions of dollars during his tenure, but now they are not paying much because he is not in office, is not true.
CNN explained that South Korea is currently paying more in defense cost sharing through negotiations with the Biden administration compared to the Trump administration, stating that they agreed to increase defense cost sharing by 13.9% in 2021, contributing nearly $1 billion, and have agreed to raise the cost-sharing in line with defense cost increases from 2022 to 2025.
CNN also mentioned other instances where former President Trump made inaccurate statements in various current affairs, including the U.S. trade deficit with China, the number of casualties during the January 6 Capitol riot, NATO burden sharing, the 2020 election, his relationship with Russia, and comments related to legal risks.