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Trump's 'America First' Approach to Military Cost-Sharing Could Hurt Alliance
with Seoul

Kim Young-gyo

   WASHINGTON - Washington's defense cost-sharing demand could hurt the
   U.S.-South Korean alliance, said a former military general, suggesting
   the demand seems to stem from "a new paradigm" the Trump administration
   has adopted.

   Bernard Champoux, a retired three-star general who served as commander
   of the Eighth Army in South Korea during the Obama administration, said
   he is "concerned about the impact" the increased cost-sharing demand
   "will have on the alliance."

   The U.S. has been asking South Korea to pay more for keeping about
   28,500 American troops in South Korea in the cost-sharing deal set to
   expire at the end of this year.

   In the last round of negotiations for the Special Measures Agreement
   (SMA) held in October in Honolulu, Washington asked Seoul to pay about
   $5 billion for next year, an amount that is more than five times the
   $924 million Seoul agreed to shoulder for this year.

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