South Korea would have to embrace the idea of taking a greater share of defense costs "if there is a huge demand" for this from the future U.S. administration of Donald Trump, a South Korean minister said Monday.
This would mean having to cut back on other budget spending, inviting opposition and posing a dilemma for the Seoul government, Chang Myoung-jin, South Korea's minister for defense acquisition program administration, told a Washington seminar.
Trump prompted alarm during the U.S. election campaign by saying he would be willing to withdraw American forces stationed in South Korea unless Seoul paid a greater share of their cost. He also said he would consider allowing South Korea and Japan to acquire their own nuclear weapons rather than rely on the U.S. nuclear umbrella.