U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and Secretary of Defense Mark Esper jointly contributed to the Wall Street Journal on January 16 under the title “South Korea is an ally, not a dependent.”https://t.co/sWsC0c9AUe

— The Korea Times (@koreatimescokr) January 23, 2020

What South Korea should do as an ally that the U.S. wants is described in the contributed article. “South Korea’s taking on a greater share of the load will ensure the alliance remains the linchpin of peace and prosperity on the Korean Peninsula, in Northeast Asia ― and across the world.” That is, Korea should pay more. Trump is already taking Korea’s purchase of high-tech weapons for granted. He is adding the defense cost sharing and sending troops to the Hormuz Strait in his calculation.