South Korea and Japan worried about Trump’s return to the White House

The Japanese press after Donald Trump’s victory, November 7, 2024. SHUJI KAJIYAMA / AP Both South Korea and Japan, the two major allies of the United States in Northeast Asia, are worried about the unpredictability by Donald Trump. He certainly has other priorities, due to the two ongoing wars in Europe and the Middle East. But anxiety is no less sensitive in Seoul than in Tokyo over the fate that will be reserved for the trilateral, security and economic cooperation agreement of 2023, between South Korea, the United States and the Japan, intended to face Chinese and North Korean threats. South Korea is doubly worried: because of a possible attempt by Donald Trump to renew a dialogue with North Korea and his demands to increase the Korean contribution to the stationing of American troops on its territory. The Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK, the official name of North Korea) barely appeared in Donald Trump’s campaign speeches. Since the failure of their bilateral summit in Hanoi in February 2019, North Korean leader Kim Jong-un has been wary of the person he accuses of having used “gangster methods” during interviews. Above all, the DPRK is no longer in the weak situation in which it was. Today it is a power with ballistic and nuclear capabilities. Read also | Article reserved for our subscribers American presidential election 2024: China wonders which Trump it will be dealing with Read later The deployment of North Korean troops on the Ukrainian front, fruit of the global strategic agreement, signed in June in Pyongyang by Vladimir Putin and Kim Jong-un, which provides for mutual assistance and military cooperation between the two countries, changes the geostrategic positioning of the DPRK. In addition to some 10,000 soldiers, Pyongyang supplies weapons to Russia. Financial compensation for the American presence The DPRK will undoubtedly set new conditions for a possible resumption of dialogue with Donald Trump, including the lifting of sanctions, decided by the United Nations Security Council. Measures now weakened by the lack of support from China and Russia. Fearing being the subject of new requests to increase its financial contribution to the presence of 28,500 soldiers on its territory, Seoul took the lead by signing, in October, an agreement with Washington, to increase by 8.3 % its participation, between 2026 and 2030 (1.3 billion dollars, or 1.2 billion euros per year), hoping to avoid the wrath of Donald Trump, who had threatened a withdrawal of American forces, if Seoul did not increase this contribution. You have 31.91% of this article left to read. The rest is reserved for subscribers.



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