US to pay for THAAD despite Trump saying Seoul should
Print Edition
SOUTH Korea said the United States had reaffirmed it would shoulder the cost of deploying the THAAD anti-missile system, days after American President Donald Trump said Seoul should pay the US$1 billion cost.
In a telephone call yesterday, Trump’s national security adviser, H. R. McMaster, reassured his South Korean counterpart Kim Kwan-jin that the US alliance with South Korea was its top priority in the Asia-Pacific region, the South Korean presidential office said. The conversation followed another North Korean missile test-launch on Saturday which Washington and Seoul said was unsuccessful.
Trump, asked about his message to North Korea after the latest missile test, told reporters: “You’ll soon find out,” but did not elaborate.
Trump’s comments in an interview with Reuters on Thursday that he wanted Seoul to pay for the THAAD deployment perplexed South Koreans and raised questions about his commitment to the two countries’ alliance.
South Korean officials responded that the cost was for Washington to bear, under the bilateral agreement.
“National security adviser H. R. McMaster explained that the recent statements by President Trump were made in a general context, in line with the US public expectations on defense cost burden-sharing with allies,” South Korea’s Blue House said, adding that McMaster requested the call.
Major elements of the advanced Terminal High Altitude Area Defense system were moved into the planned site in Seonjgu, in the south of the country, last week.
The deployment drew protests from China, which said the powerful radar that can penetrate its territory would undermine regional security, and from local residents worried they would be a target for North Korean missiles.
About 300 residents protested yesterday as two US military trucks tried to enter the THAAD deployment site. Video provided by villagers showed protesters blocking the road with a car and chanting slogans.
Police said they had sent about 800 officers to the site and two residents were injured during clashes.
North Korea has been conducting missile and nuclear weapons related activities at an unprecedented rate and is believed to have made progress in developing intermediate-range and submarine-launched missiles.
Tension on the Korean peninsula has been high for weeks over fears North Korea may conduct a long-range missile test, or its sixth nuclear test.
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