US wants South Korea and Japan to pay more for defense

United States is considering withdrawing as many as 4,000 troops from South Korea if Seoul does not pay more money to maintain the U.S. deployment there.

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Key-Points

 Trump wants allies to pay more to compensate the United States for its protection. Trump’s antagonism toward NATO members has received the most attention, but he has also pressured U.S. allies in the Asia-Pacific region.

Japan is not the only Asian ally the United States is asking to cough up more money for continued U.S. troop presence. The officials confirmed that during that same trip, Bolton and Pottinger made a similar demand of South Korea, which hosts 28,500 U.S. troops, asking Seoul to pay five times as much as it currently does.

The move to pressure Asian allies to shell out more for the continued U.S. presence in the region, some experts warn, could exacerbate tensions between the United States and its Asian allies, playing into the hands of rivals such as China and North Korea.