Concerns grow in Seoul as Washington signals push to raise defense spending from Asian allies

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt speaks during a press briefing at the White House in Washington on June 26, 2025. AP-Yonhap

SEOUL, June 27 (AJP) - Speculation has been growing that the U.S. could pressure South Korea and other Asian countries to shoulder a greater share of security costs, after NATO allies agreed earlier this week in the Hague, the Netherlands, to spend 5 percent of their gross domestic product (GDP) on defense.

Amid these developments, a White House spokesperson was quick to say on Thursday that if European allies can increase their defense spending, Asian allies can do the same.

"If our allies in Europe and our NATO allies can do it, I think our allies and our friends in the Asia-Pacific region can do it as well," Karoline Leavitt said during a press briefing. "But as for our specific relations in those discussions, I'll let the president speak on those," she added.

Her remarks came after Pentagon spokesperson Sean Parnell said last week that its European allies are setting a "global standard" for alliances, which is to spend 5 percent of their GDP on defense and that should apply to Asia as well.

At their two-day gathering, NATO allies agreed to raise their defense spending to 5 percent of GDP by 2035. Of this spending, at least 3.5 percent will be allocated "to resource core defense requirements," while the remainder will cover related expenses such as critical infrastructure, networks, and civil preparedness.

According to the Defense Ministry here, South Korea's defense budget for this year stands at around 61.2 trillion won (US$44.6 billion), or about 2.32 percent of its GDP.

Park Sae-jin swatchsjp@ajunews.com

Concerns grow in Seoul as Washington signals push to raise defense spending from Asian allies

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