Harris calls alliance with Korea a 'linchpin,' warns USFK cost-sharing burden would climb under Trump

U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris defined the South Korea-U.S. alliance as “a linchpin of security and prosperity" and assessed that South Korea is paying a “sizable” share of the costs to maintain USFK on the Korean Peninsula in a recent op-ed.

U.S. Vice President and Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris smiles as she speaks during a campaign rally at Reno Expo Center in Reno, Nevada, on Thursday. [YONHAP]

U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris, the Democratic presidential candidate in the U.S. election just a day away, defined the South Korea-U.S. alliance as “a linchpin of security and prosperity in the Indo-Pacific and around the world” and assessed that South Korea is paying a “sizable” share of the costs to maintain U.S. troops on the Korean Peninsula in a recent op-ed.

This is in stark contrast to the Republican candidate, former President Donald Trump, who claimed South Korea is a “money machine” that does not share the burden of keeping U.S. forces in Korea.

South Koreans have been monitoring the U.S. presidential election scheduled for Nov. 4, as it could impact the future of the South Korea-U.S. alliance and the defense cost-sharing negotiations for the upkeep of U.S. Forces Korea (USFK).

In an op-ed to Yonhap Agency titled “Let's go forward, together: Creating a prosperous future for Korean Americans,” Harris promised to “preserve our freedoms and global leadership.”

“In 2022, I stood at the DMZ and reaffirmed the United States’ ironclad commitment to the defense of South Korea,” said Harris in the op-ed. “I know our alliance has been a linchpin of security and prosperity in the Indo-Pacific and around the world. Trump, by contrast, is demanding that South Korea pay $10 billion a year to host our troops despite its already sizable contributions — disparaging our alliance and disregarding America’s standing in the Indo-Pacific.”

Trump demanded that the South Korean government significantly increase its share of the cost of stationing U.S. troops in the country during his first term (2017-2021). He has made similar claims during the recent presidential election campaign.

On Oct. 15, Trump claimed that if he were in office, South Korea would have paid $10 billion annually for the cost of stationing U.S. troops in the country. This is nine times the amount South Korean and American negotiators agreed upon during the Special Measures Agreement (SMA) talks earlier this month.

In a talk hosted by the Economic Club of Chicago in Chicago on Oct. 15, Trump said, “If I were [in the White House] now, they’d be paying us $10 billion a year, and you know what? They’d be happy to do it,” adding, “It’s a money machine. South Korea.”

When Trump was in office, he demanded that South Korea raise its defense cost-sharing by five to six times compared to previous levels to an overall $5 billion. However, the two sides failed to narrow their differences over the amount of cost-sharing and eventually found a compromise through follow-up negotiations in January 2021, right after the Joe Biden administration took office.

Then, earlier this month, South Korea and the United States agreed to a cost-sharing agreement that would increase the defense cost-sharing amount to 1.51 trillion won ($1.1 billion), an 8.3 percent increase from the previous year, starting in 2026, and to increase the cost-sharing amount by reflecting consumer inflation until 2023.

The $10 billion in defense cost-sharing mentioned by Trump is nine times the amount agreed upon by South Korea and the United States and twice the amount demanded during Trump’s first term.

In her op-ed, Harris refuted Trump’s claim that South Korea is a “free rider” on security issues and clarified that if she becomes president, she will maintain the current Biden administration’s policy of prioritizing the South Korea-U.S. alliance.

“More than 36,000 Americans and over 137,000 Korean soldiers gave their lives during the Korean War, fighting side by side to defend freedom and liberty,” Harris said in the op-ed. “During last year’s state visit with President Yoon Suk Yeol, I promised to honor this bond as we commemorated the 70th anniversary of the U.S.-ROK alliance.

“Under my vice presidency, we have advanced our people-to-people ties and deepened our economic partnership by catalyzing huge South Korean private sector investments in America, which are creating good-paying jobs for Americans in industries like semiconductors and electric vehicles,” continued Harris. “Korean Americans represent the very best of what is possible in this country. I promise to carry on the legacy of our parents and their sacrifices, so that our children can achieve the promise of America.”

Experts warned that if Trump were to be re-elected, South Korea may be forced to shoulder a much heavier burden in paying to station U.S. troops in the country.

“It seems likely that Trump will try to increase defense spending again if he returns,” said Kim Hyun-wook, president of Seoul-based think tank Sejong Institute. “If Trump is elected, there will likely be difficulties in SMA negotiations.”

“We delved into the SMA negotiations earlier than expected because of the fear of a second term from Trump,” said Yang Uk, a researcher at the Asan Institute for Policy Studies, another Seoul-based think tank. “The problem is that for South Korea, the SMA negotiations result requires ratification from the National Assembly, but for the United States, it is just an administrative negotiation. If the president doesn’t think it’s right, he can overturn it.”

BY LIM JEONG-WON [lim.jeongwon@joongang.co.kr]