American steadfastness is in doubt in South Korea thanks to Trump’s policies

By Editorial Board
11/23/2019, 2:17:21 p.m.

AMID A Capitol Hill impeachment drama arising from tensions between President Trump and a relatively new U.S. ally across the Atlantic, Ukraine, differences were also growing between the United States and an old ally across the Pacific: South Korea. The source of friction, not just coincidentally, is Mr. Trump’s view that supporting traditional allies is a bad “deal” for Americans, and that ungrateful proteges need to pay up.

This past week, Mr. Trump sent negotiators to seek a larger South Korean contribution to the costs of keeping 28,500 U.S. troops in that country, from $923 million per year, the current level, to a reported $5 billion. When Korean counterparts balked at this demand — highly unpopular in their country — Mr. Trump’s envoys walked out. Media outlets in Seoul reported that Mr. Trump was considering raising the pressure by pulling out 4,000 troops; Defense Secretary Mark T. Esper denied it, though the fact remains that Mr. Trump himself has spoken of a pullout previously. Meanwhile, South Korea set up more military hotlines with China and promised to “foster bilateral exchanges and cooperation in defence,” starting with a visit by South Korea’s defense minister to Beijing next year. This is more likely a South Korean pressure tactic for the talks with the United States than the beginning of a Seoul-Beijing alliance, but it also must be seen as a hedge against an increasingly less reliable United States.

Unquestionably, it is worrisome. The United States has maintained a troop presence on the Korean Peninsula since the end of the Korean War. Thanks in part to that commitment, northeastern Asia has been spared a new war, while South Korea has grown into a democracy and the 11th-largest economy in the world. It’s the second attribute, wealth, that impresses Mr. Trump most: The cost of keeping troops in a prosperous nation has rankled him for years, especially in light of the trade surplus South Korea enjoys with the United States ($17.9 billion in 2018).

No doubt, South Korea could afford to pay more. (Its current share amounts to about 40 percent of day-to-day expenses.) Indeed, Seoul’s 2018 payment represents an 8 percent increase over the previous year. Yet Mr. Trump’s attitude totally discounts the fact that the South Koreans paid 90 percent of the $10.8 billion construction cost for an immense new U.S. base 40 miles south of Seoul. South Korea’s own male population faces obligatory military service. Mr. Trump seems not to comprehend that a forward defense position in Asia pays for itself, in security.

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