The American argument is that our guys are there to protect Korea, so the Koreans should pay for at least some of that.
The Korean argument I imagine is that we'd still be paying these guys, doing maintenance on their equipment, etc. if they were based in America, so they shouldn't have to pay that part.
Under the 12th SMA, which will last until 2030, South Korea will pay 1.52 trillion won (US$1.19 billion) in 2026, up 8.3 percent from 1.4 trillion won in 2025.
Is that the right number? I got no idea, I just know it's a big number.
They rushed to sign this before the election because Trump has been making vague threats about turning our military into mercenaries and charging huge amounts of money to countries where we have bases. It's kind of weird that he'd go after Korea since they already pay us a lot and they actually live up to their commitments to defend themselves, unlike the entire continent of Europe for example. They're serious enough about it that they still draft half of men. Imagine how many million troops the Europeans could raise if they did that.
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% is the number that actually matters
IIRC Korea was the highest in the world at ~66%, and Japan close second, but I think I heard those numbers back when drumph was still president and
PM.
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