President Donald Trump on Monday complained that the South Korean government was not paying the United States what he appeared to describe as protection money in exchange for upholding America’s 70-year-old treaty commitment as he told reporters that he’d been in contact with North Korean dictator Kim Jong-Un during an appearance in the Oval Office. Speaking during a question-and-answer session as he met with a teenage California lifeguard who recently saved a 10-year-old boy from drowning in rough waves, the president said he’d had a “very positive” communication with Kim, with whom he met three times during his first term. Asked about criticisms over his decision to cancel military exercises with Seoul as a gesture towards Kim and whether it sent a signal that he favors enemies over America’s allies, Trump groused that the South Korean government had not been forking over billions in dollars that he had extorted from the South during his first term as a condition of maintaining the massive American military presence there.
And I asked them to do that at my request. I said they weren't happy about it, but they agreed. I asked for $10 billion, and they were very unhappy.
But we agreed for a short term there would be $3 billion, and next year would go up, and the next year would go up so they start paying for their protection,” he said. Trump then repeated his oft-told lie about the 2020 election — which he lost to Joe Biden — having been “rigged,” and complained that Biden had not followed through on collecting the extorted billions from South Korea and instead upheld the longstanding mutual defense relationship between the two countries that was formalized in a 1953 treaty. He also complained about Seoul purportedly refusing to join his war against Iran and suggested that the South’s refusal to participate meant he would not honor American treaty commitments going forward.
I said, ‘Would you like to give us a little hand? We don't need help with Iran, but if you'd like, give us a hand with Iran.’ He said ‘no thanks,’ and I said, ‘Wait a minute. We have 39,000 soldiers over there guarding you from Kim Jong Un, your next-door neighbor, and you're not going to help us on a very easy military operation in Iran.
That's strange,’” Trump said. The president’s outburst came hours after he took to Truth Social to declare that the U.S. was walking out on long-scheduled joint exercises with the South just before they were set to begin, citing his “very good” relationship with the 42-year-old North Korean dictator. While he conceded that it was too late to cancel the exercises, known as Ulchi Freedom Shield, he said he was directing Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth to “substantially reduce” the joint drills.
Trump has been president, has been unthreatening and respectful.” The South Korean defense ministry said in response that it would proceed as “previously notified and scheduled” with the joint exercises. Trump similarly suspended major US-South Korean military exercises during his first term following the first of three summits with Kim in 2018. The move is the latest example of the president appearing to turn against an ally in favour of a leader that previous administrations have cast as an adversary.
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