Put alliance before money

Excessive US demand will damage partnership

South Korea is under growing pressure from Washington to pay more to keep the 28,500-strong United States Forces Korea (USFK). A flurry of recent visits by high-ranking U.S. officials is raising concerns that the security alliance between the countries may fall apart due to Washington's blatantly excessive demand for Seoul to cover the cost of the U.S. military presence.

One of the officials was U.S. Defense Secretary Mark Esper, who visited Seoul last week for an annual Security Consultative Meeting (SCM) with his Korean counterpart Jeong Kyeongdoo. At the press conference after the meeting Friday, Esper pressed Korea to pay more for U.S. troops on its soil. He made it clear that a defense cost-sharing deal should be struck by the end of the year, with Seoul paying a higher share.

His remarks were nothing new, considering that many U.S. diplomats and defense officials have made similar calls. Nevertheless, what he said was seen as a higher degree of pressure on Korea. Esper must have reaffirmed the U.S. position that Seoul should pay the entire cost of the upkeep of the USFK.

Simply put, Esper faithfully served as the mouthpiece of President Donald Trump, who is demanding that Korea pay $5 billion next year. This is more than a fivefold increase from this year's $923 million, which was an 8.2 percent increase from 2018. In every respect, the Trump administration is going too far in passing the entire burden to Korea. It is regrettable that the U.S. approaches the important issue of the alliance from only a financial perspective.

Trump has even threatened to pull out American troops if his demand is not met. The real estate mogul-turned-president apparently regards the Korea-U.S. mutual defense treaty as a property deal to make money. He once said half-jokingly that it was easier to get $1 billion from South Korea than to get $114.13 from a rent-controlled apartment in Brooklyn. This is how he sees the alliance, based on his "America first" policy and unilateralism.

Trump has continued to claim wrongly that Korea is a free rider in the bilateral defense alliance. He should realize that Seoul has paid a proper share of the cost. After meeting Esper, Defense Minister Jeong stressed the importance of a defense-cost-sharing formula that is fair and mutually acceptable.

In this regard, it is irrational and unreasonable for Washington to demand that Seoul should cover the cost of U.S. strategic assets outside Korea, joint military exercises and rotational forces that are not always on the peninsula. There are growing worries that the excessive U.S. demand might turn American troops into mercenaries, damaging the value of the alliance.

This is why many U.S. officials, congressmen and security experts are expressing concerns about Trump's self-serving push. It is easy to weaken the alliance, but it is far more difficult to restore it once it is damaged. The Trump administration should refrain from destroying the reliability and credibility of the alliance, which is also crucial to defending strategic U.S. interests in the region against China and Russia.