President Trump has repeatedly made clear that he likes the idea of getting other countries to pay for US military operations that benefit them, and that showed up today in the ongoing buildup on the Korean Peninsula, with Trump talking up how incredible the THAAD missile defense system is, and that it “would be appropriate” for South Korea to pay for the billion dollar system’s deployment.
South Korea didn’t like that idea too much, and since the THAAD deployment is subject to an actual agreement, they were quick to point out that the agreement required them to provide a site and infrastructure for the deployment, while the US paid for deployment and operation.
The THAAD is intended to protect targets in the area around Korea from North Korean missiles, though its effectiveness in actual situations is seen by most experts as extremely limited, and the it would be of little use if the US did launch a full-scale war against North Korea, as most retaliation would be artillery, not missiles.
Trump’s notion that he might be about to get South Korea to pay for the costly system is the latest in a string of such notions that has come very much after the fact, with the US already having agreements in place that don’t oblige the other nation to offer them any sort of payment,, and no real reason for anyone to expect that they’d suddenly offer to do so just because Trump suggested it would be “appropriate” of them to offer.
Keeping missiles and trying to look after Soul interest is actually means looking after American agreassive interest in there to contain China.
Americans should pay lot more money they pay to Israel to allowed to keep missiles in Soul.
Asking money for these missiles is embarrassing.
If Americans won’t stay there North and South would be united without any problems.
Maybe but would South Korea be happy under Kim’s rule . Or would Kim decide next to get even with Japan ?
You would have thought this was all worked out before we shipped. Maybe he wants to clawback some of the money we paid to the Indians for Manhattan Island? Terrible deal! We overpaid! I will get a refund!
Actually the wampum given the Indians by the Dutch was not for the purchase of land but for the joint Indian-Dutch use of that land. It was a symbolic gesture of good will. For these Indians no one owned land. The Dutch did not buy Manhattan. They stole it with a very murderous war.
Oh thats better then
The Don doesn’t get the cash in small, unmarked bills? Disgraceful.
No – that’s what The Crook got for her Wall Mart speeches, and that’s what The Barry just got too.
This is the same false argument he tried with NATO/Germany. Our military presence in Germany costs the Germans about 1 billion a year.
i suppose if south k got bumped by a nuke then they would consider a few dollars for thaad to be money well spent……
Seriously?
The Don never met a deal he didn’t want to renege on.
“The Don” didn’t make that deal.
Everyone has to pay except Israel.
Be careful. That’s anti-Semitic.
Nope. “Anti-Israel” and “anti-Semitic” are two entirely different things. The former does not violate Antiwar.com’s guidelines, the latter does.
I was being facetious.
The USA has already done so much harm to its “ally” south Korea
South Korea was going to tell Trump where to shove those missiles but then they realized that his massive head already occupied that orifice.
I suspect that teh US and South Korea will find that Kim the despot he is will actually explode Nuclear weapons on the 37th Parallel in the hopes of denying the US an easy egress route into North Korea, and also the possibility of Nuclear fallout reaching South to Seoul and also to Japan where large scale fallout would be catastrophic!
Trump charging for defense is similar to a PDA isn’t it?
The ingrates!
Just give the US enough rope and they will just go broke. Look at all the other empires, lot to be learned from history if you open your eyes and not park your head in the sand. US is heading along the lines of PAST empires, only a matter of time.
Take the south Korean missiles out and south korea will have to pay for N korea’s missiles . Reunification between N and S Korea might be very good for N Korea . I think South Korea could buy N Korea’s friendship .