Anchor: The acting U.S. defense chief has flatly denied media reports that the Trump administration is set to demand U.S. allies to pay 150 percent of the base costs for hosting American forces. 
Choi You Sun has more.

Report: Acting U.S. Secretary of Defense Patrick Shanahan told the Senate Armed Services Committee on Thursday that Washington will not impose a U.S. troop payment of "cost-plus-50" on its allies in Asia and Europe.

[Sound bite: Acting US Secretary of Defense Patrick Shanahan]
(Sen. Dan Sullivan: So those reports in the press, all over the press, are incorrect?)
“They're erroneous. We're not going to run a business, we're not going to run a charity. The important part is that we.. people pay their fair share and payment comes in lots of different forms, could be contributions, like in Afghanistan."

The remarks come after a number of U.S. media outlets reported that President Donald Trump was considering ramping up cost-sharing for allies such as South Korea, Japan and Germany to house American soldiers.

[Sound bite: Acting US Secretary of Defense Patrick Shanahan]
"But at the end of the day, people need to carry their fair share and not everyone can contribute. But it is not about cost plus fifty percent.” 

The formula involves the allies covering the full cost of stationing U.S. troops plus an additional 50 percent for the privilege of their defense.

Some 199-thousand U.S. troops, or roughly ten percent of the total U.S. forces manpower, are currently stationed around the world, not only to defend allies but also to protect U.S. interests.

Currently, around 28-thousand-500 U.S. troops are based in South Korea under a one-year cost-sharing deal. Seoul recently agreed to raise its share of the cost by eight-point-two percent to nearly one-point-04 trillion won in 2019.

Amid growing concerns in the U.S. that such payment demands could only hurt Washington's relationships with its allies, The Wall Street Journal(WSJ) criticized the Trump administration in an editorial.

The WSJ expressed concern that the drastic increase in allies' cost-sharing could make U.S. troops look like mercenaries, adding that "an alliance isn't a Manhattan real-estate deal."

It also stressed a long-term cost-sharing deal offers military validity and reduces disputes between the allies, in an apparent reference to Washington's recent demand to Seoul to cut the agreement period from five years to one.
Choi You Sun, KBS World Radio News.