Alleged Presidential Aide Criticizes Trump’s Calls for South Korea to Pay More for US-ROK Alliance

An anonymous presidential aide from the Blue House is criticizing the Trump administration’s attempt to get South Korea to pay more for the upkeep of USFK:

Political analysts said the exit of Mattis, who had once been described as one of the “adults in the room,” meant there were no people in the administration protecting the country from Trump’s worst impulses.

“South Korea was ready to pay more; however, Trump was asking too much. Also, Washington seemed to pay less attention to the U.S.-South Korea alliance, from Seoul’s standpoint, because South Korea wanted it to play some role in resolving the ongoing feud with japan. Trump has been treating its key allies as a piggy bank with his demands, which I believe is not a good thing,” a presidential aide told The Korea Times, last week.

The aide said the South Korea-U.S. alliance was at a major crossroads as Trump’s continued insistence that Seoul should pay more for the U.S. military presence as a key deterrent to North Korea has “tested Seoul’s confidence” in the U.S.

Some civic groups are calling for a drastic shift in the alliance with the United States including a possible withdrawal or a drastic reduction of the USFK. 

A recent survey by the Korea Institute for National Unification released last week showed 96 percent of South Koreans were against paying more for the U.S. military presence. 

Korea Times

You can read more at the link, but the civic groups calling for the withdrawal of USFK are the usual leftist groups. These groups want USFK to withdraw because that is part of the master strategy they seek of a confederation with North Korea. This won’t happen as long as the US-ROK alliance exists.