Daniel Dale
Every single part of the story President Trump told today about South Korea's military cost-sharing spending is wrong: - "They essentially weren't paying" for the US troop presence before Trump's first term? Actually the US cost-sharing deals with South Korea have existed since 1991; Trump secured an incremental 8.2% increase, not some transformational boost - Trump got South Korea to agree to "$3 billion" a year and that it would go up every year? No, SK agreed to pay less than $1 billion even with that 8.2% increase, and it was a one-year deal; negotiations on a longer-term arrangement were unresolved when Trump left office - Then the 2020 election was rigged? No - South Korea then called Biden, declared it shouldn't be paying, and Biden "immediately rescinded" the "order" for SK to pay? No, Biden actually secured two new deals with further increases in South Korea's payments: 1) a 2021 deal with a 13.9% SK increase and then 2022-thru-2025 increases tied to SK's defense budget increases; 2) a 2024 deal with an 8.3% increase in 2026 and additional increases tied to South Korean inflation.