South Korea's conservative presidential candidate Kim Moon-soo said on Monday he was willing to discuss sharing more of the cost of stationing the U.S. military in the country, which U.S. President Donald Trump has demanded over the years.
Trump has indicated he wants to make the cost of basing tens of thousands of U.S. troops in South Korea and in Japan a part of negotiations over import tariffs his government has announced against a host of countries, including Asian allies.
South Korea and the United States last agreed to a five-year plan in October to increase by 8.3% to 1.52 trillion won ($1.09 billion) South Korea's share of the cost of maintaining the U.S. military.
Some 28,500 American troops are stationed in South Korea as part of efforts to deter nuclear-armed North Korea.
South Korea began shouldering the costs of U.S. deployments, used to fund local labor expenditure, the construction of military installations and other logistics support, in the early 1990s.
"People are nervous if President Trump says let's raise (South Korea's) share of the U.S. military in South Korea, and I believe we can raise it to a certain degree," Kim told a meeting with the American Chamber of Commerce Korea.
It should be more of South Korea's concern to ensure the U.S. military presence is well maintained in South Korea, he said.
Kim is the candidate for the conservative People Power Party (PPP) for the June 3 snap presidential election called after Yoon Suk Yeol was removed from office over a failed martial law attempt.
South Korean officials have said the cost-sharing plan is not up for review and should not be part of the ongoing discussions to address what Trump said was an unfair imbalance in trade and imposed reciprocal duties on South Korean exports.
On Sunday evening, South Korea's presidential candidates faced off in a heated first TV debate.
Lee Jae-myung, the main opposition Democratic Party's candidate and the front-runner in the race, has faced criticism from opponents as being too friendly to China, citing his comments that South Korea does not need to get involved in China-Taiwan disputes.
But Lee, who considers pragmatism as key to his foreign policy, said the country "should not go all-in" on its alliance with Washington, and said managing China and Russia relations was important, although security cooperation with the U.S. and Japan is necessary.
Kim, the PPP candidate, said South Korea should pursue "nuclear balance” to step up its security against North Korea. Lee dismissed talk of the country’s own nuclear armaments as unrealistic. "There’s no way the U.S. will approve it,” Lee said.
Kim has in the past called for moving one step closer to the threshold of producing nuclear weapons if needed and discussing NATO-like nuclear sharing with the U.S. if North Korean threats grow.
On the economy, Lee advocated for more investment in artificial intelligence, protection for unionized workers, a 4-½-day working week and putting South Korea's interests first in responding to U.S. tariffs.
There was no need for Seoul to rush to reach a trade agreement with Washington, Lee said during the two-hour debate, adding that Washington doesn’t necessarily have an "overwhelming upper hand” in tariff negotiations.
"The U.S. would have many demands but I don’t think they intend to get them all,” Lee said. "We don’t need to be the first to step forward, rushing to reach an early deal.”
South Korea, he argued, needs to nurture high-tech and renewable energy industries to overcome low economic growth.
"We will focus on developing so-called sovereign AI so our people can at least use something like ChatGPT for free like an electronic calculator," he said.
Kim, meanwhile, vowed to create jobs and deregulate to foster businesses, adding that if elected he would seek a summit with Trump to resolve the tariffs issue.
Asia's fourth-largest economy contracted in the first quarter as exports and consumption stalled, amid fears over the impact of Washington's aggressive tariffs and political turmoil at home.
South Korea has begun trade talks with the United States and is seeking a waiver from the tariffs. Trump slapped 25% tariffs on South Korea in April, after which Seoul was one of the first countries to hold face-to-face talks with Washington, following in the footsteps of Japan.
Lee has vowed to raise AI investment to 100 trillion won ($71.5 billion) and offer a production tax credit of up to 10% for semiconductors manufactured and sold domestically.
Kim has pledged to create a government agency dedicated to innovating regulations and to invest more than 5% of the budget in research and development.
Lee holds a lead with 51% support in the latest Gallup Korea poll released on Friday, with Kim trailing far behind at 29%.
Yoon was ousted last month over his short-lived imposition of martial law on Dec. 3, stoking political turmoil and triggering the election.
Lee called earlier in the day for constitutional reform to allow a four-year, two-term presidency and a two-round system for presidential elections through a referendum.
South Korean presidents currently serve a single five-year term.
He also vowed to curb the presidential right to declare martial law and hold to account those responsible for the Dec. 3 declaration.
"We must gather the people's strength to root (them) out and strictly hold (them) accountable," he told a press briefing.
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