Pentagon chief renews Trump's call for Indo-Pacific allies to increase burden sharing
Published: 11 Jun. 2025, 08:52
![U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, right, attends a House Appropriations Committee hearing at the U.S. Capitol in Washington on June 10. [EPA/YONHAP]](https://koreajoongangdaily.joins.com/data/photo/2025/06/11/ecf642fa-4944-4d1c-b127-17445ffbbde0.jpg)
U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, right, attends a House Appropriations Committee hearing at the U.S. Capitol in Washington on June 10. [EPA/YONHAP]
U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth on Tuesday reiterated President Donald Trump's call for allies in the Indo-Pacific to increase their defense burden-sharing, noting that America "can't want their security more than they do."
Hegseth made the remarks during a House Appropriations Committee hearing amid lingering speculation that the Trump administration could demand South Korea raise its share of the cost for stationing the 28,500-strong U.S. Forces Korea (USFK).
"As we shift in that direction [toward the Indo-Pacific], President Trump looks to those allies and partners to step up to share in the burden of their own defense. He also sees them, as I do, as force multipliers alongside the United States, and we are making progress in that," the Pentagon chief said.
"As the president has rightly pointed out, it's only fair that our allies and partners do their part. We can't want their security more than they do," he added.
His remarks echoed a speech that he delivered at the Shangri-La Dialogue, an annual defense forum in Singapore last month.
In the speech, he said that Asian allies should look to countries in Europe, noting that NATO members, including Germany, are pledging to spend 5 percent of their GDP on defense.
During the hearing, Hegseth underscored the strategic importance of the Indo-Pacific, calling the region a "priority" theater.
"The Indo-Pacific is our priority theater and China our pacing threat," he said. "That's why I have traveled twice to the Indo-Pacific region to meet with our allies and partners, and they have responded."
Yonhap
with the Korea JoongAng Daily
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