Trump demands $10B from South Korea amid talks with Kim Jong Un

President Donald Trump told the Pentagon to significantly reduce planned joint military exercises with South Korea on August 17, citing his relationship with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un as the reason. In the same breath, he renewed his demand that Seoul pay $10 billion annually for the privilege of having roughly 28,500 US troops stationed on the Korean Peninsula.

South Korea currently pays somewhere between $1.1 billion and $1.47 billion per year under existing cost-sharing agreements. Trump wants to multiply that figure by roughly seven to nine times, depending on which end of the current range you use.

The exercises, the ask, and the rejection

Trump posted on Truth Social that the joint military drills were not only expensive but sent an “inappropriate and hostile” signal to Pyongyang. The exercises had been scheduled to begin the following day.

This announcement came after Trump had recently spoken with the South Korean president, during which he asked Seoul to collaborate on US efforts to denuclearize Iran. South Korea declined that request.

South Korea’s government responded by saying it would review Trump’s comments, while expressing cautious hope that the shift might lead to productive negotiations between Washington and Pyongyang.

A familiar playbook with bigger numbers

Trump calling South Korea a “money machine” isn’t new. He used that exact phrase during his first term and throughout his 2024 campaign trail, consistently arguing that US allies in Asia weren’t pulling their financial weight.

A cost-sharing agreement finalized in late 2024 set Seoul’s contributions at 1.4 to 1.52 trillion won annually, which translates to roughly $1.1 to $1.14 billion. That deal itself represented an increase from earlier arrangements, but it’s still barely a tenth of Trump’s stated target.

During his first term, Trump held multiple summits with Kim Jong Un in 2018 and 2019. Those meetings produced dramatic photo opportunities and a temporary pause in tensions but no lasting denuclearization agreement.

What the drawdown means for deterrence

Joint military exercises between US and South Korean forces have served as a cornerstone of the deterrence strategy against North Korean aggression for decades. Scaling them back changes that equation, as reducing exercises degrades readiness over time and creates gaps in coordination between the two militaries.

South Korea finds itself in an uncomfortable position. Its most important security partner is simultaneously asking it to pay far more while reducing the visible commitment that justifies the partnership in the first place. The government’s measured response, promising to “review” Trump’s comments, suggests Seoul is trying to avoid a public confrontation.