Reuters Interviews Trump (III): South Korea

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(1) Stephen J Adler, Jeff Mason and Steve Holland, Exclusive: Trump Vows to Fix or Scrap South Korea Trade Deal, Wants Missile System Payment. Reuters, Apr 28, 2017.
http://www.reuters.com/article/u ... usive-idUSKBN17U09M

Quote:

(a) "Trump said the Terminal High-Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) missile system now being deployed in South Korea to defend against a potential missile attack from North Korea would cost about $1 billion and questioned why the United States was paying for it.

(b) "A former U.S. State Department official estimated the cost of the system at about $1.2 billion but said the United States would not want to sell THAAD to Seoul.

"We want to retain THAAD in our arsenal, consistent with all other US weapons systems deployed on the Korean peninsula. We own them. We retain them. We have the right to redeploy them," the official said, speaking on condition of anonymity.

My comment: There is no need to read the rest of this report. The quotations above are the essence.

(2) Choe Sang-Hun, Missile Defense Cost Jolts South Korean Race. New York Times, Apr 29, 2017
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/04/ ... se-north-korea.html

Quote:

"In South Korea, Mr Trump's comments [about free trade agreement with S Korea and payment of THAAD] shook the race to choose a successor to Park Geun-hye, the former president * * * Ms Park's decision to accept the Thaad deployment has been a dominant campaign issue

Contrary to Mr Trump's remarks, South Korea has repeatedly said [to its people] that it would provide the land and build the base needed for the Thaad missile battery and that the United States would pay for the deployment, operation and maintenance of the system, which was purchased from Lockheed Martin.

My comment: There is no need to read the rest of this report, either, which are about rumors among S koreans such as whether there was a secret deal between the Park administration and US for THAAD paymeent, at least in part, from S Korea.