South Korea presidential candidate Kim says open to discussing US troop cost

19/5/2025 13:38

South Korea's conservative presidential candidate Kim Moon-soo said on Monday he was willing to discuss sharing more of the cost of stationing the U.S. military in the country, which U.S. President Donald Trump has demanded over the years.



Trump has indicated he wants to make the cost of basing tens of thousands of U.S. troops in South Korea and in Japan a part of negotiations over import tariffs his government has announced against a host of countries, including Asian allies.



South Korea and the United States last agreed to a five-year plan in October to increase by 8.3% to 1.52 trillion won South Korea's share of the cost of maintaining the U.S. military.



Some 28,500 American troops are stationed in South Korea as part of efforts to deter nuclear-armed North Korea.



South Korea began shouldering the costs of U.S. deployments, used to fund local labour expenditure, the construction of military installations and other logistics support, in the early 1990s.