Trump administration: ”South Korea should follow NATO's lead and increase its defense spending to 5% of GDP”

The U.S. Department of Defense has set a new standard that Asian allies, including South Korea, should spend 5% of their GDP on defense.
Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell responded to questions from Yonhap News on the 19th (local time).
"As Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth stated on the 18th (at a Senate Armed Services Committee hearing) and at the Shangri-La Dialogue (Asia Security Forum), our European partners have
"Our allies are setting the global standard for our alliance, particularly our alliance in Asia," he said, "and that means spending 5 percent of GDP on defense."
Parnell confirmed that South Korea is among Asian allies from which the United States is asking for increased defense spending.
The United States is currently asking NATO member states to spend a new 5% of their GDP on defense.
The United States has made clear its position that it will demand this as a set of guidelines and that it will make similar demands of its Asian allies, including South Korea and Japan.
Last year, South Korea spent about 66 trillion won on defense, or 2.8% of its GDP. The Trump administration has increased this to 5% of GDP.
If South Korea were to demand an increase to the 100.0 percent level, it would have to spend about 117 trillion won on defense.
"Given developments in the region, it makes sense for Asia-Pacific allies to move quickly to match the pace and level of European defense spending."
He also said the new US defense spending demands would "impact the security of our allies in the Asia-Pacific region."
Parnell said, "It is in the interest of the American people to have a more balanced and equitable sharing of alliance costs with our Asian allies."
"Common sense is President Donald Trump's approach," he said, adding that he believes the 2026 fiscal year defense budget proposals will be implemented by the end of the year.
"As NATO strives to increase its defense spending, our allies around the world, including in Asia, have a new standard for defense spending to go by," he said at a Senate Armed Services Committee hearing on the issue.
"It has become a reality," he said. In his keynote speech at the Shangri-La Dialogue held in Singapore on the 31st of last month, he also announced the new defense spending standards for European allies (
After introducing the EU's share of the budget (5% of GDP), he called on "our Asian allies to play their part, just as Europe gradually assumes more responsibility for its own security."