It looks like those numbers are hard to quantify, since South Korea's expenditures include e.g. salaries for Korean workers at US bases and the provision of non

It looks like those numbers are hard to quantify, since South Korea's expenditures include e.g. salaries for Korean workers at US bases and the provision of non-cash resources and services: http://www.latimes.com/nation/la-na-trump-allies-20160930-snap-story.html http://www.latimes.com/nation/la-na-trump-allies-20160930-sn... I suppose if the government in Seoul no longer felt it was worth the cost, they could stop paying and ask the Americans to leave. EDIT: Oh yeah, why did you put "protection" in quotes? That's exactly what it is. The US doesn't pay North Korea to break the South's windows, if you'll excuse the mixed metaphor.