As part of a plan to reposition and even cut back on military deployments worldwide, the Pentagon has provided the White House with options on how to reduce the number of American troops stationed in South Korea, The Wall Street Journal reports.
Relations between the U.S. and South Korea have been tense since President Donald Trump demanded that Seoul increase the amount of money it pays to have U.S. troops stationed in the country.
Despite being at odds, Trump administration officials said no decision to reduce the number of troops from the current level of 28,500 has been made, the newspaper reports.
The U.S. and South Korea have been military allies since the Korean War. The two countries agreed in 1991 that Seoul would pay to help cover the Americans’ cost of keeping troops in the country.
President Trump wants South Korea to pay more. In 2019, Seoul agreed to pay $926 million in 2019, an 8.2% increase for one year. Trump wanted even more. He asked for $5 billion for the following year.
South Korean President Moon Jae-in made a counteroffer to give Trump more than $5 billion, but spread over five years, a person familiar with the talks told the Journal.
Under the terms of the South Korean offer, Seoul would increase its payment 13.6% during the first year with annual increases after totaling about 7% a year that would be tied to the growth of South Korea’s defense budget. In the fifth year, Seoul would pay the U.S. $1.3 billion.
Trump fired back with a request that South Korea pay $1.3 billion for another one-year deal, a person familiar with the talks said. Moon rejected that deal.
“The president has been clear in the expectation that our allies around the world, including South Korea, can and should contribute more,” a senior Trump administration official said.
He also added that Trump has questioned the reason behind overseas deployments.
“He has made it clear he wants options,” another administration official said.
Last fall, the White House asked the Pentagon to provide some initial options for withdrawing troops from around the world, including from the Middle East, Africa, Europe and Asia. The U.S. withdrew troops from Germany.
Earlier this month, Gen. Robert Abrams, the commander of U.S. forces in South Korea, called reports of withdrawal of troops from South Korea wildly speculative.
“No decisions have been made to alter our force posture in South Korea,” a U.S. Defense official said. “But regardless of the outcome of the review, we are confident that we will maintain our ability to address any threat on the Korean Peninsula.”
To prevent the removal of too many troops from South Korea, Congress has passed legislation in both houses that would prevent the Pentagon from reducing troops in South Korea below 28,500 unless the defense secretary certifies that the North Korean threat has eased up and the reduction wouldn’t negatively impact U.S. security.
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