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(LEAD) 'Standard' of 5 pct GDP defense spending applies to S. Korea, Asian allies: Pentagon

All News 04:31 June 20, 2025

By Song Sang-ho

WASHINGTON, June 19 (Yonhap) -- The Pentagon said Thursday that South Korea and other Asian allies are also subject to the "global standard" of spending 5 percent of gross domestic product (GDP) on defense, a proposal that U.S. President Donald Trump has put forward for European allies.

Chief Pentagon spokesperson Sean Parnell made the remarks a day after Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth told a Senate Armed Services Committee hearing that there is now a "new standard for allied defense spending that all of our allies around the world, including in Asia, should move to."

South Korea's defense budget this year stands at around 61.2 trillion won (US$44.6 billion), which is 2.32 percent of its GDP, according to Seoul's defense ministry.

"As Secretary Hegseth said today and at Shangri-La, our European allies are now setting the global standard for our alliances, especially in Asia, which is 5 percent of GDP spending on defense," Parnell said in response to a question from Yonhap News Agency.

"Given the enormous military buildup of China, as well as North Korea's ongoing nuclear and missile developments, it is only common sense for Asia-Pacific allies to move rapidly to match Europe's pace and level of defense spending."

He added: "It is common sense because it is in our Asia-Pacific allies' own security interests and in that of the American people's to have more balanced and fairer alliance burden-sharing with our Asian allies. And common sense is what President Trump's approach is all about."

During the Shangri-La Dialogue, an annual defense forum in Singapore last month, Hegseth made an emphatic call for Indo-Pacific allies to bolster their defense spending.

"It doesn't make sense for countries in Europe to do that, while key allies and partners in Asia spend less on defense in the face of an even more formidable threat, not to mention North Korea," he said during the forum.

The remarks came amid speculation that Trump might call for a rise in South Korea's defense expenditures or its share of the cost for stationing the 28,500-strong U.S. Forces Korea, as his administration is prioritizing deterring an increasingly assertive China.

U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth speaks during a Senate Armed Services Committee hearing on Capitol Hill in Washington on June 18, 2025, in this photo released by Reuters. (Yonhap)

U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth speaks during a Senate Armed Services Committee hearing on Capitol Hill in Washington on June 18, 2025, in this photo released by Reuters. (Yonhap)


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