BREAKING NEWS

Trump, South Korea spar over anti-missile defense system costs

SEOUL - The spokesman for the front runner in South Korea's upcoming presidential election said on Friday that the deployment of the US THAAD anti-missile defense system should be "immediately suspended" and await a decision by the next government.
"As stressed again, the issue of THAAD deployment should be handed over to the next (South Korean) government," Youn Kwan-suk, a spokesman for Moon Jae-in, said in a statement responding to US President Donald Trump's remarks during an interview with Reuters that South Korea should pay for the system.
There was been no change in South Korea's position that the United States bears the cost of the THAAD anti-missile defense system, South Korea's defense ministry said on Friday.
"There is no change in South Korea and the United States' position that our government provides the land and supporting facilities and the US bears the cost of THAAD system's deployment, operation and maintenance," the ministry said in a statement.