SOUTH KOREA PERSPECTIVE

The Korea Times covers the budget with the factual detail typical of South Korean media but places it in a precise regional context. The 40% increase is described as 'the largest since World War II' and the Korea Times notes that the war 'drives up costs' — vocabulary of uncontrolled acceleration. South Korea reads this budget through the prism of its dependence on the American military umbrella and the North Korean threat. Seoul increases its own defense spending annually and sees in the U.S. increase a validation. But the unasked question is the same as in Tokyo and Singapore: if the U.S. commits massively to the Middle East, what capacity remains for the Korean peninsula? The Korea Times does not formulate this concern explicitly — restraint is a cultural trait. But the article's placement alongside coverage of France-Korea negotiations on Hormuz passage reveals Seoul thinks simultaneously about war and energy.