The president said Washington should seek ownership rather than leases for sites in South Korea
President Donald Trump has said he would like the United States to obtain ownership of the land where its military bases are located in South Korea, instead of leasing it.
Sitting alongside South Korea’s new president, Lee Jae-myung, on Monday, Trump claimed that Washington has invested heavily in infrastructure on the Korean Peninsula and maintains “over 40,000 troops” there, yet the land under those facilities remains leased from Seoul.
“Maybe one of the things I’d like to do is ask them to give us ownership of the land where we have the big fort,” he said. “I would like to see if we could get rid of the lease and get ownership of the land where we have a massive military base.”
Trump did not specify which military “fort” he meant. The largest US facility in South Korea, Camp Humphreys, was completed in 2018 after a decade-long relocation project and billions in funding from both governments. The United States currently operates its overseas bases under long-term lease agreements and Status of Forces treaties, which grant Washington operational control while maintaining de jure sovereignty for the host country.
The actual number of American troops currently stationed in South Korea is estimated at around 28,500, making it one of the largest US military presences abroad after Japan and Germany. The US leader said that during his previous term Seoul had agreed to cover the costs of US troops’ upkeep, but that President Joe Biden had reversed the arrangement.
“We were getting paid billions of dollars. But then Biden ended that for whatever reason,” Trump said, calling the move “unbelievable.”
Trump’s remarks are consistent with his long-standing view that Washington’s partners must pay more for American “protection,” whether through direct financial contributions, larger defense budgets, or expanded economic ties with the US. During both his first and current term, he has pressed NATO members to increase their military spending, repeatedly threatening to reconsider commitments and arguing that US taxpayers should not shoulder what he calls a “disproportionate burden.”
The South Korean leader has not publicly responded to Trump’s comments. North Korea has for decades criticized the US military presence as an occupation force and condemned its drills with Seoul as rehearsals for invasion.
