Diplomacy needed to defuse DPRK issue

US President Donald Trump's comment that the Republic of Korea should pay for the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense anti-missile system is quite disturbing for many people in the ROK. It looks like he wants to charge them for a very expensive product which they did not even order.

The deployment of THAAD has been a controversial and divisive issue among the people in the ROK. There is still no clear conclusion on the military usefulness of the anti-missile system or its strategic implications. It is shameful that parts of THAAD abruptly began to be placed on the deployment site in Seungju amid heightened tensions last Wednesday.

It has been reported that US Vice-President Mike Pence, on his way to visit the ROK with his foreign policy staff on April 16, said the ROK's next administration (not the incumbent one) should make the decision on THAAD's deployment and operation. A new ROK president will be elected on May 9, replacing the impeached and ousted Park Geun-hye. It is not politically legitimate, therefore, for the outgoing interim government to drive a nail into an issue of utmost importance.