Moon, Trump agree on greater S. Korean missile capabilities

South Korea and the US agreed to lift all restrictions on South Korean ballistic missile payload, President Moon Jae-in said Tuesday, saying that the allies see eye-to-eye on maintaining overwhelming military capabilities over North Korea.

“President Trump reaffirmed (the US’s) ironclad defense policy (for South Korea) and we agreed to further strengthen the allies’ solid defense posture,” Moon said.

“President Trump and I reached the final agreement on completely lifting the limitation on South Korea’s ballistic missile payload.”

Moon also revealed that the two sides are to immediately begin talks on South Korea purchasing US-made military surveillance assets, and to expand the rotational deployment of US tactical assets in and around the Korean Peninsula.

Going on to say that Seoul and Washington will maintain pressure on North Korea to engage in denuclearization talks, Moon said that the two sides will continue working together while “fairly sharing the defense costs.”

On the matter of Korea-US Free Trade Agreement, Moon said that the two sides’ trade authorities will swiftly carry out concerned negotiations.

Trump echoed Moon on North Korean issues, and went on to say that the Korea-US Free Trade Agreement as it currently stands is unfair to the US, and welcomed Seoul’s decision to carry out related processes quickly.

By Choi He-suk (cheesuk@heraldcorp.com)