(Washington = Yonhap News) Correspondent Baek Na-ri = U.S. President Donald Trump shared a column on social media arguing that Korea should sell the domestically produced mid-range surface-to-air missile 'Cheongung-II', known as the 'Korean version of Patriot', to Ukraine.
It is attracting attention as it may be aimed at pressuring Korea to sell Cheongung-II to Ukraine. Even if it is not necessarily the sale of Cheongung-II, there are observations that there may be an intention to put pressure on Korea based on the basic recognition that Korea should contribute more to the United States.
On the 4th (local time), President Trump shared Mark Thyssen's column in the American daily Washington Post (WP) through the social media platform Truth Social.
With a column titled 'How Trump can help Ukraine build its own Patriot missiles,' Thyssen is known as the person President Trump seeks advice from.
In his column, Thyssen argued that even if Ukraine receives a license to produce Patriots in the United States, it will immediately need additional interceptor missiles, and that "To meet this urgent need, Trump should pressure Korea to sell M-SAM II (Cheongung-II), also known as the 'Korean version of Patriot', to Ukraine from its own stockpile."
“Trump is already justifiably upset by South Korea’s refusal to provide support in the Strait of Hormuz,” Thyssen said, emphasizing that “there is no better way for South Korea to improve relations, and this would relieve the burden on the United States of providing interceptor missiles to Ukraine.”
Thyssen argued that the sale of Cheongung-II is also in Korea's national interest. The purpose is to test the performance of Cheongung-II against North Korean missiles used in the attack on Ukraine.
Thyssen claimed that Korea cannot sell weapons to countries at war due to legal restrictions, but that it is selling Cheongung-II to the United Arab Emirates (UAE), which is at war.
In response to the UAE's early airlift of the Cheongung-II to defend against an attack by Iran, the sale of the Cheongung-II to Ukraine was justified by the logic that the UAE was also at war.
“This is an opportunity for South Korea to step up and prove that it is a trustworthy ally,” Thyssen added.
Thyssen basically argued that Ukraine should be granted a license to produce the Patriot. President Trump announced permission in early July, but virtually reversed his position at the end of the same month, saying, "It was not agreed upon and we must be cautious."
Thyssen defended President Trump by saying that it was due to legitimate concerns that cutting-edge technology could fall into the hands of the enemy, and also pointed out that after sharing Patriot manufacturing technology with Ukraine, there is a possibility that the technology could be passed on to Russia, Iran, North Korea, and China.
At the same time, it proposed a plan to allow Ukraine to jointly produce the new low-cost Patriot PAC-3 ACE, which does not have cutting-edge features.
President Trump did not add any further comment while sharing the title and link of Thyssen's column with Truth Social.
However, it is noteworthy that President Trump's sharing of the column may have been intended to pressure Korea to sell Cheongung-II to Ukraine. President Trump usually shares reports and op-eds that are favorable to him or that he likes.
Even if Cheongung-II was not specifically pointed out, there are also observations that the column may have been shared in a general sense to pressure Korea to make 'additional contributions'. President Trump has publicly criticized South Korea, Japan, and North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) member countries, taking issue with their non-cooperation in the Iran war.
A similar claim has recently been raised in the U.S. conservative camp. Mike Pence, who was vice president of the first Trump administration, mentioned support for Korean interceptor missiles last month, saying that Ukraine desperately needs interceptor missile support.
Cheongung-II is the core of the Korean missile defense system. It was developed to respond to aerial threats, including North Korea's ballistic missiles, and its deployment was completed in 2024.
