Worry about US-South Korea alliance grows before Trump-Kim summit [View all]

https://www.militarytimes.com/flashpoints/2019/02/24/worry-about-us-south-korea-alliance-grows-before-trump-kim-summit/

Worry about US-South Korea alliance grows before Trump-Kim summit

By: Hyung-Jin Kim, The Associated Press    16 hours ago


SEOUL, South Korea — As President Donald Trump seeks a nuclear deal with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un next week in Vietnam, some in Seoul are wondering if the fate of Washington’s decades-long military alliance with South Korea could be at stake. Much of this worry is linked to Trump’s repeated assertions that the U.S. military deployment in South Korea is too costly, and to his surprise suspension of some U.S. military exercises with South Korea — including a major summertime drill — as a concession to Kim after their first summit in Singapore last year. Added to this concern are policies by South Korea’s liberal President Moon Jae-in that critics say favor engagement with North Korea at the expense of the alliance with Washington.

The broader U.S.-South Korean alliance, sealed during the bloodshed of the 1950-53 Korean War, won't be on the negotiating table during the summit in Hanoi on Feb. 27-28. But some observers say its long-term future could be in doubt and that Trump may eventually withdraw some of the 28,500 U.S. troops deployed in South Korea.
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After agreeing to increase its contribution to the cost of the U.S. military presence this year, South Korea’s Foreign Ministry said last week that Washington insists it has no plans to adjust troop levels. During a phone call with Moon on Tuesday, Trump also said that U.S.-South Korea relations are better than ever, according to Moon’s office.

Trump repeated Friday that drawing down American forces was not on the table for his talks with Kim, but he has previously threatened to pull them from South Korea and Japan if those nations refused to pay more. After the Singapore summit, Trump also told reporters, “I want to bring our soldiers (in South Korea) back home.” While announcing the suspension of a major summertime military drill, Trump called the exercises “very provocative” and “tremendously expensive.”
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