Military Dispute

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Recent media reports said that the United States plans to demand that America's foreign allies pay an additional 50 percent fee for hosting U.S. troops. However, acting U.S. Defense Secretary Patrick Shanahan has denied the speculation. The media reports received a strong backlash in the United States.

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Some 199,000 American troops are stationed overseas, or nearly 10 percent of the entire U.S. military force of 2.1 million servicepeople. The cost of their hosting is covered by the U.S. government and America's allies. Recently, the U.S. media including The Washington Post and Bloomberg News have reported that the U.S. government is considering demanding that its allies pay the full cost of stationing plus an additional 50 percent fee. If that's true, South Korea would have to pay nearly 1.4 trillion won for hosting the U.S. servicepeople, and negotiate the cost again next year, which is quite a burden for the Korean government. However, acting U.S. Defense Secretary Patrick Shanahan said at a hearing before the Senate Armed Services Committee that the media reports were wrong.

[Soundbite] Patrick Shanahan(Acting U.S. Defense Secretary)

Shanahan, however, stressed that America's allies should "carry their fair share." When the media reports about additional costs of hosting U.S. troops overseas were released, they were met with sharp criticism in the United States. The Wall Street Journal wrote that a military alliance is not "a real estate deal" and that by imposing additional costs Washington may undermine its foreign policy.