THE EXPENSE of keeping American troops abroad is one of Donald Trump’s longstanding peeves. America’s president has made it clear that he regards his country’s…
THE EXPENSE of keeping American troops abroad is one of Donald Trump’s longstanding peeves. America’s president has made it clear that he regards his country’s global military presence as a bad deal and has put pressure on allies all over the world to do more to cover the cost. South Korea, keen to avoid a rift in the run-up to Mr Trump’s second summit with Kim Jong Un, North Korea’s despot, has duly agreed to pay a little more. But the row will soon reignite.
Despite long and tense negotiations, American and South Korean officials failed to agree how to share the cost of keeping the current 28,500 American troops stationed in South Korea by the time the previous five-year agreement expired at the end of 2018.
