As I figured the statement made by President Trump in regards to South Korea paying for THAAD is related to upcoming US-ROK cost sharing negotiations:
H.R. McMaster
National Security Adviser Gen. H.R. McMaster said Sunday that the U.S. will indeed pay for the roughly $1 billion THAAD missile defense system in South Korea, amid neighboring North Korea’s repeated ballistic test launches.
“What I told our South Korean counterpart is until any renegotiation, that the deals in place, we’ll adhere to our word,” McMaster told “Fox News Sunday.”
He spoke days after President Trump said South Korea should pay for the anti-missile system and hours after Seoul said that McMaster had assured its chief national security officer, Kim Kwan-jin, about the deal.
“The last thing I would ever do is contradict the president of the United States,” McMaster also told Fox News. “And that’s not what it was. What the president has asked us to do, is to look across all of our alliances and to have appropriate burden sharing-responsibility sharing. We’re looking at that with our great ally South Korea, we’re looking at that with NATO.” [Fox News]
Giving mixed signals to your allies while you threaten war on North Korea. Is that a good idea?
Denny
6 years ago
Because Trump is Raytheon stockholder. Raytheon produces THAAD.
setnaffa
6 years ago
So, when did Tom’s DNA split into two sock puppets?
ChickenHead
6 years ago
“Giving mixed signals to your allies while you threaten war on North Korea. Is that a good idea?”
It is when you play Trump era 3D chess instead of Obama style tic tac toe.
There are two goals… stopping North Korea’s nuke and missile programs with threats of regional violence… and getting South Korea to pay fair market prices for American protection against threats of regional violence.
It seems these goals can reinforce each other quite nicely.
“Because Trump is Raytheon stockholder. Raytheon produces THAAD.”
According to Snopes, not exactly a Trump-loving conservative mouthpiece, Trump’s small holding in Raytheon might temporarily go up by the value of a meal any time they stand to profit from military action… not exactly beneficial unless he is actively buying and selling… and not really enough money to influence public policy.
A few hit piece articles using each other as a source while vaguely suggesting Trump was making big money off this stock ownership are producing fake news.
THAAD was also an Obama era program… a done deal when Trump arrived… so Trump’s call for payment hooks up the American taxpayer rather than his stock account.
I’m strating to think the people who constantly criticize Trump over things he is doing well based on falsehoods are just stupid.
Complain about restarting the War on Drugs, support of asset forfeiture, stopping funding for third world abortions… etc. There are plenty of important things to find fault with that constant attention and social pressure could change for the better.
Instead, the Left frets over imaginary Russian puppetry and misdirection on the location of carrier groups.
JoeC
6 years ago
What is that 1 billions dollars based on? Is that the purchase pride for the THAAD system or the cost for deploying it?
Who’s idea was it in the first place? Was is something the Korean military requested or was it something recommended by USFK?
Those are some basic questions I haven’t been able to find answers for. They seem fundamental to understanding the arguments.
@Denny, Lockheed Martin is the prime contractor for THAAD, not Raytheon. The THAAD radar is subcontracted to Raytheon. Plus the deal for THAAD was put in place by the Obama administration long before Trump ever became President.
To complain about THAAD and Trump’s stock holdings is like complaining about Trump hold stock in Raytheon which is the prime contractor of the Patriot system that has been in Korea for decades.
Acting President and Prime Minister Hwang Kyo-ahn said Wednesday that an advanced U.S. anti-missile system has to be deployed to South Korea as soon as possible to counter North Korea’s growing nuclear and missile threats.
Hwang made the remarks amid calls from opposition parties to delay the planned deployment of the Terminal High-Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) system to the Korean Peninsula given the lack of public consensus and China’s vehement opposition to it.
Seoul hopes to install a THAAD battery in the southern county of Seongju, 296 kilometers southeast of Seoul, by May next year.
“For security, (we) have to deploy (THAAD),” he said during a parliamentary interpellation session. “As we cannot wait even for a moment to cope with North Korea’s nuclear provocations, we have to do what we can do first.” [Yonhap]
You may also recall that North Korea successfully test a Musudan missile at a high angle that caused concerns it would be used to overcome the lower tier Patriot missile defense systems already in the ROK.
As far as the cost for THAAD the media has been saying it costs about $1 billion.
A full Terminal High Altitude Area Defense battery made by Lockheed Martin Corp. would cost about $800 million, according to Aerospace & Defense intelligence Report. A THAAD battery consists of at least six launcher vehicles, each equipped with eight missiles, with two mobile tactical operations centers and the AN/TPY-2 ground-based radar.
So it seems the $1billion is based on the purchase price of a whole THAAD battery system, not the deployment cost.
My understanding is the THAAD system is only being deployed and not sold to South Korea.The USA has hundreds of billions of dollars of assets deployed to Korea already. They are not owned or operated by Korea and the USA will likely take most of it out of Korea when it leaves. How is the THAAD system different?
Yes the cost put out there by President Trump is the purchase price. However, he is not trying to get the ROK to purchase a THAAD, but as McMaster clarification is demonstrating Trump is setting conditions to get them to pay more at upcoming US-ROK cost sharing negotiations. Reminding the Korean government how expensive a THAAD is a way to demonstrate why they should pay more.
@JoeC, we will never know who approached who about THAAD, but it doesn’t matter because the ROK could have just easily said no to deploying the system.
However, I think no one imagined the false environmental arguments and political uncertainty which occurred after its announcement. It wasn’t surprising to me considering the Korean left used the false mad claims to try and take down Lee Myung-bak back in 2008 and the THAAD controversy was just part of the larger effort to take out former President Park.
If the Koreans are now being told to pay $1billion for it and that was not part of the original agreement, then it does matter if it was an offer or a request.
Matters to whom? And seriously, JoeC, have you always paid full price? Have you never haggled over the price? I mean, South Koreans haggle over everything. And Trump’s team couldn’t be more transparent if they were made of Lucite. Pick up a damned copy of Trump’s book Art of the Deal.
Giving mixed signals to your allies while you threaten war on North Korea. Is that a good idea?
Because Trump is Raytheon stockholder. Raytheon produces THAAD.
So, when did Tom’s DNA split into two sock puppets?
“Giving mixed signals to your allies while you threaten war on North Korea. Is that a good idea?”
It is when you play Trump era 3D chess instead of Obama style tic tac toe.
There are two goals… stopping North Korea’s nuke and missile programs with threats of regional violence… and getting South Korea to pay fair market prices for American protection against threats of regional violence.
It seems these goals can reinforce each other quite nicely.
“Because Trump is Raytheon stockholder. Raytheon produces THAAD.”
According to Snopes, not exactly a Trump-loving conservative mouthpiece, Trump’s small holding in Raytheon might temporarily go up by the value of a meal any time they stand to profit from military action… not exactly beneficial unless he is actively buying and selling… and not really enough money to influence public policy.
A few hit piece articles using each other as a source while vaguely suggesting Trump was making big money off this stock ownership are producing fake news.
THAAD was also an Obama era program… a done deal when Trump arrived… so Trump’s call for payment hooks up the American taxpayer rather than his stock account.
I’m strating to think the people who constantly criticize Trump over things he is doing well based on falsehoods are just stupid.
Complain about restarting the War on Drugs, support of asset forfeiture, stopping funding for third world abortions… etc. There are plenty of important things to find fault with that constant attention and social pressure could change for the better.
Instead, the Left frets over imaginary Russian puppetry and misdirection on the location of carrier groups.
What is that 1 billions dollars based on? Is that the purchase pride for the THAAD system or the cost for deploying it?
Who’s idea was it in the first place? Was is something the Korean military requested or was it something recommended by USFK?
Those are some basic questions I haven’t been able to find answers for. They seem fundamental to understanding the arguments.
@Denny, Lockheed Martin is the prime contractor for THAAD, not Raytheon. The THAAD radar is subcontracted to Raytheon. Plus the deal for THAAD was put in place by the Obama administration long before Trump ever became President.
To complain about THAAD and Trump’s stock holdings is like complaining about Trump hold stock in Raytheon which is the prime contractor of the Patriot system that has been in Korea for decades.
@JoeC, the ROK government has been asking for the THAAD system to be deployed since last year:
You may also recall that North Korea successfully test a Musudan missile at a high angle that caused concerns it would be used to overcome the lower tier Patriot missile defense systems already in the ROK.
As far as the cost for THAAD the media has been saying it costs about $1 billion.
I found a partial answer to some of my questions.
So it seems the $1billion is based on the purchase price of a whole THAAD battery system, not the deployment cost.
My understanding is the THAAD system is only being deployed and not sold to South Korea.The USA has hundreds of billions of dollars of assets deployed to Korea already. They are not owned or operated by Korea and the USA will likely take most of it out of Korea when it leaves. How is the THAAD system different?
Yes the cost put out there by President Trump is the purchase price. However, he is not trying to get the ROK to purchase a THAAD, but as McMaster clarification is demonstrating Trump is setting conditions to get them to pay more at upcoming US-ROK cost sharing negotiations. Reminding the Korean government how expensive a THAAD is a way to demonstrate why they should pay more.
Yes. Some politicians had to start aligning for or against it last year. But it was agreed to much earlier and my question was who’s idea was it?
Did USFK and US State department make the case to Korea that this is something you need, or did Korea come to them and say this is something we want?
I guess paying more for THAAD than they pay for their share of USFK isn’t sitting well with some in the RoK:
http://www.koreaherald.com/view.php?ud=20170501000554
@JoeC, we will never know who approached who about THAAD, but it doesn’t matter because the ROK could have just easily said no to deploying the system.
However, I think no one imagined the false environmental arguments and political uncertainty which occurred after its announcement. It wasn’t surprising to me considering the Korean left used the false mad claims to try and take down Lee Myung-bak back in 2008 and the THAAD controversy was just part of the larger effort to take out former President Park.
If the Koreans are now being told to pay $1billion for it and that was not part of the original agreement, then it does matter if it was an offer or a request.
Matters to whom? And seriously, JoeC, have you always paid full price? Have you never haggled over the price? I mean, South Koreans haggle over everything. And Trump’s team couldn’t be more transparent if they were made of Lucite. Pick up a damned copy of Trump’s book Art of the Deal.