President Donald Trump on Monday railed against South Korea with a host of complaints about its defense agreement with the United States ― but CNN fact checker Daniel Dale spotted a key problem with his claims.
Trump on Monday claimed the South Koreans “essentially weren’t paying” the United States for its military presence there before he took office in 2017, but he got them to agree to pay $3 billion a year “for protection.” Dale said that was straight-up false.
“For decades before Trump took office, South Korea spent substantial sums to share the cost of the US military presence in the country,” he wrote, adding they agreed to pay $800 million a year in a deal negotiated by the Obama administration.
Trump’s claim he got them to pay $3 billion per year is likewise untrue. His administration negotiated an 8.2% increase, leaving the total still below $1 billion ― and nowhere close to the $3 billion per year Trump had claimed.
Trump: South Korea has been protected by us for many, many years. When I called recently, the president of South Korea and I said, “Would you like to give us a little hand?” We don’t need help with Iran, but if you’d like, give us a hand with Iran. He said, “No, thanks.” And I… pic.twitter.com/JxHvc1CqPp
— Acyn (@Acyn) August 17, 2026
@Acyn / Via x.com
Trump also said former President Joe Biden “immediately rescinded” that $3 billion, which, again, isn’t true since there was never a $3 billion deal to begin with. Biden, Dale noted, actually got South Korea to agree to two more increases in payments.
“We can’t go around and protect all of these countries, especially when they’re not there to help us,” he declared. Trump made other false claims during his rambling aside about South Korea, and also revisited his gripes about the 2020 election, claiming it was “rigged.”
“Trump was lying,” Dale wrote. “He lost the 2020 election fair and square to Biden.”
This article originally appeared on HuffPost.
