In stationing American troops to South Korea, the U.S. has been pressing South Korea to pay more and more every year.
A new memoir out in the U.S. claims that Trump, in his first year in office, wanted Seoul to pay 60 billion dollars -- more than 60 times what Seoul is paying now.
On the other hand, U.S. senators point out that the Trump administration needs to realize that South Korea's contribution is not at all small.
Oh Jung-hee reports.
Several U.S. Senators want the Trump administration to be aware that South Korea's contribution to the defense costs it shares with its ally has not been small.
According to Voice of America on Wednesday, Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman Jack Reed told the broadcaster... that the U.S. government needs to recognize that South Korea is a "valuable ally that contributed significantly to mutual defense and security, particularly against North Korea."
Senator Dan Sullivan cited how the South Korean government paid 90 percent of the total expense of building the U.S. base at Camp Humphreys.
And Senator Mazie Hirono said... it's true U.S. allies have to pay a fair share, but it's not as though they've not been doing so.
South Korea and the U.S. held two rounds of negotiations in Seoul last month and in Honolulu earlier this month, to strike a new Special Measures Agreement.
The bilateral cost-sharing deal is good for one year, and the current one signed in February expire at the year's end.
The negotiations are believed to have been tough... as the U.S. demands South Korea to pay more, while Seoul says any increase has to be an acceptable amount.
A new book written by former U.S. Secretary of Defense James Mattis' speechwriter Guy Snodgrass claims Trump said in July 2017 that it'd be better to have South Korea pay at least 60 billion dollars a year.
That would be 12 times the 5 billion dollars that Washington has reportedly brought up in recent negotiations.
Oh Jung-hee, Arirang News.