<Anchor>

President Trump insisted that South Korea decided to pay much more for this time. The Korean government hasn't started negotiations yet, but it's what I mean. It seems certain that the US is pressing for more money.

I'm Kim Hye-young.

<Reporter>

US President Donald Trump told twitter yesterday evening that South Korea has agreed to raise defense contributions.

President Trump, referring to South Korea as a `` very wealthy country, '' says South Korea has decided to pay the United States significantly more in return for protection from North Korea, and negotiations for defense contributions have begun.

Trump repeated the claim when he met with White House journalists.

The relationship between the two countries is very good but for many years the contributions felt very unfair, he said South Korea agreed to pay much more.

He also said that 32,000 US troops are stationed in Korea and have helped Koreans for about 82 years, but have virtually nothing.

The South Korean government, however, says negotiations on contributions have not yet begun and therefore have not agreed to increase contributions.

Foreign Ministry officials said, "We will discuss the issue of defense sharing in the upcoming negotiations."

In fact, Trump predicted a massive hike when the negotiations are imminent.