Protection Racket Trump Style.
THAAD PAYMENTTrump 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.
"I informed South Korea it would be appropriate if they paid. It's a billion-dollar system," Trump said. "It's phenomenal, shoots missiles right out of the sky."
Asked about the remarks, South Korea's defense ministry said in a statement there is no change to the existing agreement that Seoul provides land for the deployment while Washington shoulders the cost of installing and operating the system.
A top foreign policy adviser to South Korean presidential front runner Moon Jae-in told Reuters that Trump's suggestion would be an "impossible option" because the U.S. military operates the system.
The U.S. military started the deployment of THAAD in early March, despite strong opposition from China, which worries the system's powerful radar can be used to spy into its territory. Moon, the favorite to win South Korea's presidential election on May 9, has called for deployment to be delayed until after the next administration is in place and can review the decision.
Lockheed Martin (LMT, +0.29%) is the prime contractor for the THAAD system.
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 U.S. 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.
http://fortune.com/2017/04/28/trump-thaad-south-korea-trade/