Washington: The U.S. Defense Department has labeled President Donald Trump's directive for North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) allies to allocate 5 percent of their gross domestic product (GDP) on defense as a "global standard." This benchmark is now suggested to apply to South Korea and other Asian allies, according to a Pentagon announcement made on Thursday.According to Yonhap News Agency, Chief Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell addressed this during a response to Yonhap's inquiry. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth had earlier in the week declared that a new standard for allied defense spending has been instituted. "As Secretary Hegseth said today and at Shangri-La, our European allies are now setting the global standard for our alliances, especially in Asia, which is 5 percent of GDP spending on defense," Parnell stated.Parnell emphasized the necessity for this standard, citing the significant military expansion by China and the ongoing nuclear and missile developments in North Korea. He stated that it is "only common sense" for Asia-Pacific allies to align swiftly with Europe's level of defense spending to ensure their security and maintain a balanced alliance with the United States.He further elaborated that this approach is aligned with President Trump's strategy for achieving "more balanced and fairer alliance burden-sharing" with Asian allies, underscoring that it is in both the security interests of Asia-Pacific allies and the American people.