United States Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris said that South Korea is already making "sizable" contributions to the upkeep of the U.S. Forces Korea, calling the South Korea-U.S. alliance a "linchpin" of security and prosperity in the Indo-Pacific region and around the world. 

Harris made the remarks in a special contribution to a local media outlet on Saturday ahead of the U.S. presidential election. 

Harris reportedly said that in 2022, she stood at the DMZ and reaffirmed the United States' ironclad commitment to the defense of South Korea, stressing that she knows the bilateral alliance has been a "linchpin of security and prosperity in the Indo-Pacific and around the world."

She added that Donald Trump, by contrast, is demanding that South Korea pay ten billion dollars a year to host U.S. troops despite its "already sizable contributions," disparaging the alliance and disregarding America's standing in the Indo-Pacific region. 

Former U.S. President and Republican presidential candidate Trump had called for a sharp increase in South Korea's burden for the defense costs during his term between 2017 and 2021 and has made similar calls during his presidential campaign. 

In early October, South Korea and the United States reached an agreement on Seoul's share of the upkeep, under which South Korea will pay roughly one-point-52 trillion won or around one-point-13 billion dollars in shared defense costs in 2026, up eight-point-three percent from the previous year.

From 2027 to 2030, Seoul's contribution will be raised by as much as the consumer price index (CPI).