Trump hikes price tag for US forces in Korea almost 500% as Seoul questions alliance
Source: CNN
Washington (CNN)Secretary of Defense Mark Esper landed in South Korea on Thursday to navigate renewed threats from an "enraged" North Korea and newly heightened strain in the alliance with Seoul that congressional aides, lawmakers and Korea experts say has been caused by President Donald Trump. Trump is demanding that South Korea pay roughly 500% more in 2020 to cover the cost of keeping US troops on the peninsula, a congressional aide and an administration official confirmed to CNN.
The price hike has frustrated Pentagon officials and deeply concerned Republican and Democratic lawmakers, according to military officials and congressional aides. It has angered and unnerved Seoul, where leaders are questioning US commitment to their alliance and wondering whether Trump will pull US forces if they don't pay up. "Nothing says I love you like a shakedown," said Vipin Narang, an associate professor at MIT who follows the Korean peninsula, summarizing South Korean uncertainty their worries about the US.
In the US, congressional aides and Korea experts familiar with the talks say the President's $4.7 billion demand came out of thin air, sending State and Defense Department officials scrambling to justify the number with a slew of new charges that may include Seoul paying some costs for US personnel present on the peninsula and for troops and equipment that rotate through. Negotiations are underway as North Korean threats to step up its weapons development, deepening Seoul's anxiety. On Thursday, Pyongyang condemned US-South Korean joint military exercises, saying it was "enraged" and threatening to respond with "force in kind."
North Korea has already launched 24 missiles this year, each a violation of UN resolutions, to match the country's previous annual record for firing off projectiles that threaten South Korea and Japan, according to Bruce Klingner, a senior fellow at the Heritage Foundation. Germany, France and the United Kingdom recently condemned Pyongyang for the launches, saying they undermined regional security and stability. Meanwhile, South Korean leaders are acutely aware that Trump has downplayed the launches, saying he is "not at all" troubled by them. There are a lot of hard feelings," Klingner said of South Korean views of the US right now, adding that "people are questioning the viability of the US as an ally."
Read more: https://www.cnn.com/2019/11/14/politics/trump-south-korea-troops-price-hike/index.html
More allies under the bus.
= new reply since forum marked as read
...and totalitarian neighbor invades the area as soon as US troops are gone.
Stop me if you heard this before...
or Japan (although they have slowly been kicking us out) and many other places. They are there by treaty but also for training.
My mother's generation were the Korean War vets. That "war" (actually a "police action" ) was the U.N.'s first and the DMZ between North and South Korea, as we all know and saw the hullabaloo about (with the infamous great "coin" ) is still there.
I suppose one could compare/contrast what happened with the Koreas vs what happened with the Vietnams. The geopolitical world has definitely changed since the end of those 2 U.N. "police actions", so oddly enough, those changes prompted that whole PNAC initiative by the neocons (which was supposedly DOA but is actually sortof implemented thanks to people who are still hanging around like Bolton and Elliot Abrams). So U.S. bases have been popping up in other places all around the world as "nimble forces".
Isolationists vs Globalists.
Pax Americana.
It sortof fits the pattern of demanding that other countries "pay their fair share". It's an attempt at fulfilling some kind of campaign promise so it can be touted at a rally. 
Putin wins again.
How many years of American diplomacy is he taken a hatchet to?
Separately on Friday, North Korea launched an attack on former US Vice President Joe Biden, calling him a "rabid dog'' that "must be beaten to death with a stick.''
The commentary by the official Korean Central News Agency said the US presidential hopeful "reeled off a string of rubbish against the dignity'' of the North's supreme leadership, an act it said deserves "merciless punishment.''
It wasn't immediately clear which of Biden's comments provoked Pyongyang's anger, although the Democrat has accused Trump of cozying up to "dictators and tyrants.''
The North has previously made racist and sexist diatribes against former US President Barack Obama and ex-South Korean President Park Geun-hye, the country's first female leader.
mm/ng (AP, Reuters)
(see what had been happening regarding Ukraine and the "irregular channel" ) I expect it is difficult for the media to keep up with "which one" is "the one".
and I think they also do so by having their back every time there are "cultural" ice-breaker events between the north and the south. But "something" always seems to happen that torpedoes the outreach and everyone retreats back to their corners.
