The government reaffirmed its commitment to the defense cost-sharing agreement for U.S. Forces Korea (USFK), finalized with Washington last year, following recent remarks by U.S. President Donald Trump that South Korea should be paying for its own defense.

Referring to the American troops stationed on the Korean Peninsula during a Cabinet meeting on Tuesday, Trump criticized South Korea’s defense contribution, saying that while the country is “making a lot of money,” it pays “very little for the military.”

An official at Seoul's foreign ministry said on Wednesday that it would be inappropriate to assess or respond to every comment made by a foreign head of state.

The official added that Seoul intends to adhere to the 12th Special Measures Agreement(SMA), that was effectively settled last year, under which South Korea agreed to contribute one-point-52 trillion won, or around one-point-one billion U.S. dollars, in 2026.

Seoul's defense contribution, which stood at around 944-point-one billion won in 2016, before Trump's first term, jumped to about one-point-04 trillion won by 2020 during his presidency.