National Security Adviser H.R. McMaster on Sunday said the United States would adhere to its agreement with South Korea for a new missile defense system, but indicated paying for the system could be renegotiated.

In an interview with "Fox News Sunday," McMaster also downplayed his telepone call with South Korea's national security chief, Kim Kwan-jin, on the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense system, also known as THAAD.

"The last thing I would ever do is contradict the president of the United States," the three-star Army general said. "And that's not what it was."

"What I told our South Korean counterpart is, until any renegotiation, that the deal's in place, we'll adhere to our word," McMaster continued. "But what the president's asked us to do is to look across all of our alliances and to have appropriate burden-sharing, responsibility-sharing."

President Donald Trump said in a recent interview that he "informed South Korea it would be appropriate if they paid" the billion-dollar price tag for the missile defense system. The system is being rolled out in response to military provocations from North Korea. Former national security adviser Susan Rice, speaking Sunday on CNN's "Fareed Zakaria GPS," said Trump's statement had "created a great deal of unease in South Korea at a time when we ought to be providing reassurance."

On Sunday, McMaster linked a potential renegotiation of THAAD to the administration's wider philosophy of pushing U.S. allies to take up a greater share of the cost of collective defense.

"The question of what is the relationship on THAAD, on our defense relationship going forward, will be renegotiated as it's going to be with all of our allies, because what the president has said is he will prioritize American citizens' security and interests," McMaster said.

"But to do that, we need strong alliances," he added. "But also to do that effectively in a way that's sustainable economically, we need everybody to pay their fair share."



[POLITICO]