South Korean president Park Geun-hye has been officially impeached after the Constitutional Court upheld the legislative impeachment vote. Acting president, prime minister Hwang Kyo-ahn, will only remain president for the next 60 days when the election will be held. The US government is hurrying to deploy the THAAD as South Korea's next president may very well be Moon Jae-in (or another liberal), who is known for being incredibly against THAAD.
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/03/09/world/asia/park-geun-hye-impeached-south-korea.html?_r=0
Well, that changes things. Quick question, If we deploy the THAAD before the next president comes in, and the next president doesn't like the THAAD, couldn't he just send the THAAD back? Or are we just hoping that they will see our assistance as a good thing and that they will eventually accept the THAAD?
ReplyDeleteI'm sure they could just send it back. The way I view it is that the United States alliance is very important to South Korea and it makes a way bigger statement to send it back after the deal is done than to cancel in the process. The reason they wouldn't want the THAAD is because they already know it's going to aggravate China. The liberal party that Moon Jae-in is a part of is all about improving their relationship with China and North Korea, and they understand it probably will weaken their relationship with the US on the way. They are willing to sacrifice some strength in that alliance for better relations with their closer neighbors. I'm thinking our government is probably hoping that the message it would send to our alliance to return the THAAD is too strong even for the liberal party.
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