Donald Trump was questioned on April 27 by Time magazine’s Eric Cortelssa regarding a cover story titled” How far would you go” and the question” Do you withdraw troops from South Korea”?
Without giving a yes or no response, and citing wrong figures, he repeated his past claims. His response appeared to suggest that if elected, he would retake his first-term negotiating position of holding the risk of departure over Seoul’s head in order to snag more money.
The previous president and recent presidential candidate responded in the following terms, according to Time’s record of the meeting:
Well, I want South Korea to address us properly. As you know, I got them to – I had discussions, because they were paying almost everything for 40, 000 forces that we had it.  , We have 40, 000 soldiers, and in a relatively vulnerable place to put it mildly, if right next door happens to be a gentleman I got along with very well, but a man who, however, he’s got visions of things.
Kim Jong Un, the president of North Korea, would be that. In order for Trump to win the presidency, there was a reason to believe that the president may accept Kim’s request for troop departure in exchange for a resolution that would end the Korean War.
Trump’s numbers were incorrect in that Time meeting. Time’s truth- chess note that” the , actual , amount” of the army is no 40, 000 but 28, 500.
According to the text, Trump added:  ,
And I said to South Korea,” It’s time to step up and pay.” They’ve become a very prosperous region. We’ve essentially paid for much of their defense, free of charge. And they all agreed to pay a hefty sum of money. And then possibly now that I’m gone, they’re paying very much. I’m not sure if you are aware that they renegotiated the agreement I entered into. And they’re paying very much. But they paid us billion, many billions of dollars, for us having forces there. According to what I’m hearing, they were able to renegotiate with the Biden presidency and reduce that number by about everything.
Trump’s numbers these were bad once– as was what he was “hearing” had happened during the Biden management.
Time’s truth- chess note:” During his administration, Trump demanded that South Korea increase its efforts to sponsor US troops in the country. In early 2019, the country’s contribution increased by more than 10 %, from$ 830 million annually to$ 924 million. Trump had requested the region pay as little as ,$ 5 billion dollars—a 500 % increase and a” non- start” for South Korea, as Reuters , reported , at the time.  , In 2021, the two countries agreed that South Korea would pay$ 1 billion that year—a 13.9 % increase from its annual payments in 2019 and 2020, with costs increasing by 6.1 percent per year until 2025. The US and South Korea are currently , ll- negotiating , a fresh price- sharing agreement to start in 2026″.
Trump continued:
Which does n’t make any sense, Eric. Why do we support somebody? And we’re talking about a really powerful region. But they’re a very wealthy country and why would n’t they want to pay? They were truly, they were a delight to deal with. No easy immediately, but unfortunately, they became a joy to deal with. And they agreed to pay billions]of] money to the United States for our military being there. Trillions, several billions.
The Korea part of the meeting, small as it was, made articles in South Korea. A Washington release that was published by the Seoul regular Hankyoreh on May 1 stated that” some of Trump’s former experts have commented that he mentioned withdrawing from South Korea behind closed doors. According to Trump’s assertions in the interview,” If he is elected this November, it is likely that he will use the threat of pulling US soldiers out of Korea as liquidity” in a fresh round of negotiations designed to increase South Korea’s commitment to safeguard prices.”
Trump also made a second threat to NATO members in an earlier Time interview that he claimed did not carry their weight financially.
He was asked:” Sir, you have said that you’re willing to let Russia ‘ do whatever the hell they want’ to NATO countries that do n’t spend enough on their defense. If Putin attacked a NATO state that you believe was not spending enough on their defense, would the US come to that country’s assistance”?
Trump’s reply:
Yeah, when I said that, I said it with great meaning, because I want them to pay. I want them to be paid. That was said as a point of negotiation. I said, Look, if you’re not going to pay, then you’re on your own. And I mean that. And the question was asked to me: If we do n’t pay? It was a question I had before this happened. Do you know that there were billions of dollars going into NATO after I said that? Do you know that?
 , The questioner persisted and after further discussion Trump elaborated:
Look, that’s the way you talk as a negotiator. I’m negotiating because I want them to pay. I want to see Europe make money. I want nothing bad to happen to Europe, I love Europe, I love the people of Europe, I have a great relationship with Europe. But they’ve taken advantage of us, both on NATO and on Ukraine.
The author of The Art of the Deal did not claim that the NATO threat was merely a negotiation position. Even if it were, Trump’s threat to withdraw his troops from Korea does not appear to have been true. There is proof that Trump was serious about making withdrawal a good idea, just like President Jimmy Carter did before him. White House Chief of Staff John Kelly reportedly to him about it, but Kelly did n’t spend much time in the position.