[Defense Brief Column] Former President Trump's Options for US Forces Korea

The U.S. military has the world's largest overseas base. It is the Pyeongtaek U.S. Forces Korea base (Camp Humphreys), completed in 2021. Maintaining this base requires funding. This is the defense cost-sharing fund. The defense cost-sharing fund is the expense borne by our government to cover part of the costs to ensure the stable stationing of U.S. Forces Korea. Support began in 1991 under the Special Measures Agreement (SMA) on defense cost-sharing. It is used for three items: wages for Korean workers employed by U.S. Forces Korea, military construction costs, and logistics support costs. Since these are expenses necessary for stationing, weapon purchases are not included. Next year, our government is expected to pay about 1.5 trillion won.

Former President Donald Trump has been nitpicking over this money. He claims that our government hardly shares the costs. In fact, during his tenure, in the 11th SMA negotiations in 2019, former President Trump demanded an increase of nearly six times the then contribution, up to 5 billion dollars.

The U.S. government became anxious. From the American perspective, U.S. Forces Korea is necessary. This is why they are rushing to finalize the SMA to maintain the U.S. military presence in Korea. According to diplomatic documents released by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in 2006, in February 1975, at the U.S. House Armed Services Committee, Representative Ronald Dellums asked, "The South Korean military is militarily superior to the North Korean military, so I think there would be no major military threat even if U.S. Forces Korea were withdrawn." At that time, Secretary of Defense Schlesinger pointed out, "The Korean Peninsula is a region where the interests of four major powers intersect, and the stationing of U.S. Forces Korea has political significance; it is very different from the 1940s and 1950s."

Even as time passed, perceptions did not change. Bob Woodward, famous for the Watergate scoop, included behind-the-scenes stories related to U.S. Forces Korea in the National Security Council (NSC) in his 2019 book, Fear: Trump in the White House. Former President Trump advocated for the withdrawal of U.S. Forces Korea at the NSC. Defense Secretary James Norman Mattis rebutted, saying, "If North Korea launches an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM), it takes 15 minutes to reach Alaska, but U.S. Forces Korea detect it in 7 seconds." He also said that U.S. Forces Korea are necessary to prevent World War III. Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Joseph Dunford also supported this, stating, "Other countries actually pay subsidies every year for activities to protect the United States." In February, Samuel Paparo, nominee for Commander of the U.S. Indo-Pacific Command, testified at a Senate Armed Services Committee confirmation hearing, evaluating that "South Korea's defense spending as a percentage of GDP is the highest among allied partner countries."

Camp Humphreys, where U.S. Forces Korea are stationed, is not a ‘tripwire’ that automatically triggers U.S. intervention if North Korea attacks, but a forward base to check China. Its value is accordingly high. Economically, stationing U.S. Forces Korea on the U.S. mainland would impose a greater cost burden than stationing them in Korea. Geopolitically, it is a military strategic point. Eastern coastal areas such as Beijing and Shanghai in China fall within its strike range. Vladivostok in Russia is also within range. If this city is attacked, the Russian navy would lose its Pacific deployment base. From a military operational perspective, if U.S. Forces Korea withdraw, there is a high possibility that U.S. Forces Japan would also withdraw. The U.S. mainland, including Hawaii and Guam, would become the frontline. The risk of American citizens on the mainland suffering casualties would have to be borne. In this regard, before discussing a ‘fair’ defense cost-sharing fund, former President Trump should consider the word ‘mutual’ mentioned in the Korea-U.S. Mutual Defense Treaty.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.