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Increasingly, US demands for defense contributions to our allies are increasing. US Secretary of Defense has recently pressed pressure to increase contributions by blatantly saying that he should not ride free on NATO or NATO.

I'm Correspondent Washington Sohn.

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Defense Minister Esper has publicly announced that he will demand an increase in defense contributions prior to meeting with European NATO members.

He also used explicit and rough expressions that there could be no free riding.

[Esper / US Secretary of Defense: There is no free ride station in joint security. Regardless of geopolitical location, size, or population, each must do their part to defend the alliance and deter war.]

The US can't take the burden instead of a member country that doesn't keep its promise to spend 2 percent of its gross domestic product on defense.

NATO, along with Japan and South Korea, is where the United States is targeted for increased defense contributions.

In relation to this, the second meeting of the US-ROK defense cost-sharing negotiations that took place today reported that the US demanded six trillion won, nearly six times this year.

In particular, it was confirmed that the company presented $ 2 billion and KRW 2.4 trillion in preparation for the preparation costs such as strategic asset development and combined training costs, which have not been shared.

[Kang, Kyung-Hwa / Minister of Foreign Affairs: It is the basic position of our government that defense negotiations should basically be made within the SMA framework.]

In this way, the Korean government cannot afford to make unbelievable money, and we expect difficulties in negotiations aimed at the end of the year.