This composite photo shows Defense Minister Ahn Gyu-back (L) and U.S. Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth. (Image courtesy of Yonhap)
SEOUL, July 31 (Korea Bizwire) — With the tariff deal concluded, South Korea may face the task of resetting key alliance issues with the United States, as the Donald Trump administration is pressing its allies to take on a greater share of defense and security responsibilities.
The tariff agreement reached Thursday commits South Korea to investing US$350 billion in the U.S. in exchange for lowering the reciprocal tariff rate from the originally proposed 25 percent to 15 percent. Contrary to earlier predictions, alliance issues were not included as conditions in the tariff deal.
When President Lee Jae Myung holds his first summit with Trump in the coming weeks, as announced by both sides, those issues are expected to come to the fore, including increasing South Korea’s defense spending, redefining the role of U.S. troops stationed in Korea and the transition of wartime operational control to Seoul.
A key emerging issue is the “modernization of the alliance,” a term increasingly cited by Washington. It is widely seen as a call for U.S. allies to shoulder more of the defense burden and to support its strategy to counter China.
This raises the question of whether the U.S. will make an explicit push to expand the role of the 25,800-strong U.S. Forces Korea (USFK) for operations beyond the Korean Peninsula, a concept known as “strategic flexibility.”
The issue also came up during the first phone talks between South Korea’s new Defense Minister Ahn Gyu-back and U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth earlier in the day.
Seoul’s defense ministry said the two defense chiefs “agreed to continue consultations to ‘modernize’ the South Korea-U.S. alliance in a mutually beneficial manner.” It marked the first time the phrase was mentioned in the bilateral defense talks.
The foreign ministry said the issue will be discussed at the upcoming meeting between Foreign Minister Cho Hyun and U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio, set for Thursday afternoon (U.S. time).
“South Korea and the United States recognize the need to modernize and further advance their alliance. To that end, the two sides are currently engaged in close discussions on the matter,” ministry spokesperson Lee Jae-woong said during a regular press briefing Thursday.
A TV screen at Seoul Station in the capital shows a live news broadcast following the South Korea-U.S. agreement on U.S. tariffs on July 31, 2025. (Image courtesy of Yonhap)
Also drawing attention is how South Korea will respond to the expected U.S. call to increase its defense spending — similar to what Washington has demanded of its European allies in the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO).
In his call with Ahn, Hegseth expressed a desire to ensure that the bilateral alliance remains “strategically sustainable” and that the allies’ defense posture contributes to deterrence against “shared threats,” according to a Pentagon readout.
In an interview with Yonhap News Agency earlier this month, U.S. State Department deputy spokesperson Mignon Houston said the Trump administration believes South Korea should make the “highest-level efforts” to strengthen its own defense capabilities.
“We also want to see our partners do the same in terms of bringing the highest level of support and commitment they can to their defense capabilities,” she said.
The Pentagon has called on Asian allies to spend 5 percent of their gross domestic product (GDP) on defense, a target in line with what NATO members have agreed to.
South Korea’s defense budget this year stands at around 61.2 trillion won ($44.2 billion), accounting for about 2.32 percent of its GDP, according to Seoul’s defense ministry.
It also remains to be seen whether the Trump administration will request that Seoul renegotiate the defense cost-sharing deal signed under the Biden administration last year for the upkeep of the USFK.
The long-standing issue of the transition of wartime operational control (OPCON) to Seoul could also be discussed in the lead-up to the upcoming summit.
The allies have been working on a “conditions-based” OPCON transfer, under which South Korea would need to demonstrate the capability to lead combined Korea-U.S. forces, possess sufficient strike and air defense capabilities, and a regional security environment conducive to such a transfer.
Although Seoul and Washington agreed on the OPCON transfer in 2015, it was postponed after they agreed in 2014 to a conditions-based handover, rather than a timeline-based one, due to North Korea’s evolving nuclear and missile threats.
Given the Trump administration’s policy focus on deterring an assertive China, concerns have grown that progress on the OPCON transfer could lead to a drawdown of the USFK, a development that would have serious security implications for Seoul in its deterrence efforts against Pyongyang.
Earlier this month, Ahn stated during his confirmation hearing that the Lee government aims to retake OPCON during its five-year term. Lee’s office later clarified that the remarks were his personal opinion.
(Yonhap)
