Trump meets with South Korea leader Moon Jae-In as he receives new options for North Korea

CNN reports that revised US military options have been prepared for President Trump according to two US military officials.

The options will be presented to Trump if the North conducts an underground nuclear test or a ballistic missile test which indicates that the regime has made significant progress towards developing weapons that could reach the US according to the officials. The US National Security Adviser H.R. McMaster also confirmed the options had already been prepared:

"What we have to do is prepare all options because the President has made clear to us that he will not accept a nuclear power in North Korea and a threat that can target the United States and target the American population. The threat is much more immediate now. We can't repeat the same failed approach of the past," McMaster said. The President has directed us to not do that and to prepare a range of options, including a military option, which nobody wants to take."The new South Korean president Moon Jae-in has been meeting with President Trump. McMaster said that the two would discuss a new approach to the North. McMaster said that there was recognition that there needed to be more pressure on the regime and that one would see that happen in coming days and weeks.

A joint statement just released starts by affirming the defense of the Republic of Korea(ROK) through the US-ROK Mutual Defense Treaty. In a provocative statement Trump said that the US was committed to extend deterrence to the ROK " drawing on the full range of U.S. military capabilities, both conventional and nuclear." The mention of the possible use of nuclear weapons is surely provocative to put it mildly. The US has about 28,000 troops in South Korea at present.

The THAAD anti-missile system is not mentioned. The US deployed the system before Moon was elected. He had opposed it as had China and Russia. After Moon was elected, the US was planning to install more of the THAAD systems but Moon suspended this until after the results of a probe. However, the statement does say: "The ROK will continue to acquire the critical military capabilities necessary to lead the combined defense, and detect, disrupt, destroy, and defend against North Korean nuclear and missile threats, including through interoperable Kill-Chain, Korean Air and Missile Defense (KAMD), and other Alliance systems." Trump was apparently angered by Moon's suspension of further deployments. By including "other Alliance systems" Trump can claim that Moon is committed to deployment of more THAAD systems.

The two leaders agreed to coordinate closely to achieve a complete, verifiable, and irreversible denuclearlization of the Korean Peninsula in a peaceful manner. This is said at the same time as the options being presented to Trump include a military option. The statement expresses agreement on reactions to the North's weapon's programs:"The two leaders called on North Korea to refrain from provocative, destabilizing actions and rhetoric, and to make the strategic choice to fulfill its international obligations and commitments. The two leaders affirmed that North Korea’s nuclear tests and unprecedented number of ballistic missile tests constitute direct violations of multiple United Nations Security Council Resolutions (UNSCRs) and highlight the accelerating threat its programs pose to international peace and security. "Of course the US , Russia, China, and others having nuclear weapons and far more advanced missile programs are no threat to international peace and security. Even Israel can have nuclear bombs which it developed in spite of international condemnation at the time In December of 2006:Iran demanded Tuesday that the UN Security Council condemn what it said was Israel's clandestine development and possession of nuclear weapons and "compel" Israel to abandon its nuclear arms and place all its nuclear facilities under UN inspection. If Israel refused to comply, Iran said, the council must take "resolute action" under Chapter 7 of the UN Charter, which authorizes a range of measures from diplomatic and economic sanctions to military action.Iran's demands went nowhere of course since Israel's powerful supporters did not want them to.

The two leaders said that sanctions are actually a tool of diplomacy and that the door was always open for dialogue with North Korea under the right circumstances. Sanctions are hardly a form of diplomacy since they use coercion as a way of forcing consent not negotiation. Perhaps war is just another means of diplomacy but using violence and force. Some time ago, Trump made waves by saying he would be honoured to meet Kim Jong-Un under the right circumstances and even praising Kim to some extent. While the circumstances were never made clear there are certain demands the Trump administration has made: "Trump did not make clear what preconditions would have to be met for such a meeting to occur, but his administration has demanded a freeze on nuclear and long-range missile tests as well as a readiness to negotiate North Korea’s complete nuclear disarmament. " Trump made it clear that circumstances at present were not suitalble for talks.

The joint statement said that neither the US nor the ROK maintained a hostile policy towards the North and could offer North Korea a better future "if it choose the right path". Given that the ROK and the US carry out joint exercises that even have involved scenarios akin to invasion of the North and that the US has moved two aircraft carriers to the area to show force, and given also that the US and ROK have supported harsh sanctions against the North, Kim Jong-un may not agree that the US and ROK have no hostile policy to it. What the two are saying is that if the North would do what the two want then they might actually try to help the North.

Unlike Trump who insists the earlier policy of the US of strategic patience did not work and must be superceded, Moon is in favor of dialogue with the North. The statement says that President Trump supports Moon's moves including attempts to deal with humanitarian issues. The statement also emphasized the importance of developing US-ROK-Japan trilateral relations. The two agreed to discuss furthering cooperation at the G20 meeting in July. Moon invited Trump to visit the ROK this year. Trump accepted the invistation. Perhaps he will face protests and the visit will be called off as has his visit to the UK.

One of the issues that the two leaders discussed, was the 2012 bilateral free trade agreement which Trump demands be renegotiated. South Korea has a trade surplus of $17 billion with the US. Trump wants barriers to the export of US goods to the South to be removed. Speaking alongside Moon in the Oval Office Trump said: "We are renegotiating a trade deal right now as we speak with South Korea and hopefully it will be an equitable deal, it will be a fair deal for both parties. We want something that will be very good for the American worker." On the surface at least, Moon appears to have achieved little and has decided to downplay any disagreements with Trump.

Trump wants South Korea to pay for US THAAD missile system

(April 30) Trump is now showing not how the US can make friends and influence people but how to alienate its South Korean friends. Trump is asking South Korea to pay the $1 billion cost of the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) system.

For good measure Trump is questioning the trade deal between the two countries. In an interview with Reuters Trump said: "I informed South Korea it would be appropriate if they pay. That's a billion dollar system." The system is supposed to protect South Korea against an attack from the North. However, Russia and China both have objected to the system complaining that it could be directed against them and enable the US to have a first strike capacity in attacking either of them. There are also tensions within South Korea with many protesting the deployment system as shown on the appended video.

Euan Graham, director of the international security program of the Lowy Institute said: "It's collateral damage to the [U.S.-South Korea] alliance." The South Korean Defense Minister, Han Min-koon, has said several times that South Korea will not pay for the program:"There has been no change in our basic position that the South Korean government provides the site and infrastructure for THAAD ... and the U.S. side shoulders the cost of its deployment, operation and maintenance." A South Korean official said that there was a confidential agreement signed last year by senior officials from both countries that the US would bear the cost of deploying THAAD. I expect that the US was the one pushing for the deployment so it could be used potentially against China and Russia. The South Koreans no doubt made it quite clear they were unwilling to take on the one billion cost.

The plans for the system were in place in July of last year before the election of Trump. South Korea and the US have a mutual defense treaty. There are more than 28,000 US troops in the South but no Chinese troops in North Korea. However, there are rumors that China has deployed up to 150,000 troops on its border with the north, though they appear to be unfounded. Trump told Reuters concerning South Korea: "We're going to protect them. But they should pay for that, and they understand that." Sometimes it seems as if Trump considers the US is running a sort of protection racket for a number of countries and that they should be paying for the protection. However, the US is projecting its own power and protecting the interest of itself and its allies by such expenditures. It also creates jobs and profits for stakeholders in the military-industrial complex.

Trump seems blissfully unaware that THAAD is an important issue in the upcoming South Korean presidential election on May 9. However, at least some of his administration are aware as they seem anxious to deploy the system before a new and less anti-North government and president are installed. There could be even more problems over THAAD as well as Trump's complaints about the US South Korea trade deal. after the new government takes office.

The US assured South Korea that it will pay the one billion dollar cost of the THAAD anti-missile system deployed in South Korea. In a telephone call Trump's national security adviser, H.R. McMaster assured his South Korean counterpart, Kim Kwan-Jun that the US alliance with South Korea was its top priority in the Asia-Pacific region. The South Korean Blue House said that McMaster said Trump's comments were made in a general context in line with Trump's expectations that there should be more defense cost burden-sharing with allies.

A top foreign policy adviser to Moon Jae-in the front runner in the presidential race called the South Korean payment for the THAAD system an impossible option. Kim Ki-Jung a professor at Yonsei University in Seoul said: "Even if we purchase THAAD, its main operation would be in the hands of the United States. So purchasing it would be an impossible option. That was our topic when we were considering the options." Moon has yet to officially comment on Trump's remarks. Bonnie Glaser, an Asia expert at Washington's Center for Strategic and International Studies said: "Trump's remarks reflect his persistent desire for allies to pay more for their defense. As far as their impact on South Korea's election, they will likely boost support for Moon, and if he wins, it will make it harder for the U.S. to sustain a hard-line policy against North Korea. So Trump's remarks don't seem very strategic to me." This is an understatement. Trump hardly thinks at all except in terms of his own pet ideas. The South Koreans hardly count in terms of what their own interests might be. Trumps' minders have a hopeless job.