South Korea Cancels Participation in F-35A Handover Ceremony

Another example of a concession made to North Korea without the Kim regime even asking:

The military is toning down a handover ceremony for a batch of new F-35A state-of-the-art fighters from the U.S. as an inter-Korean summit looms. The jets, which cost W7.3 trillion, are intended to counter the nuclear and missile threat from North Korea (US$1=W1,067).

The event will be held at the Lockheed Martin plant in Fort Worth, Texas on March 28. Air Force Chief of Staff Lee Wang-keun and Jeon Jei-guk, the chief of the Defense Acquisition Program Administration, both abruptly canceled plans to attend.

“Neither can attend the ceremony,” a military spokesman said. “Lee must stay in the country to maintain military preparedness while [President Moon Jae-in] is on an overseas trip, and Jeon will accompany the president.”  [Chosun Ilbo]

You can read more at the link, but you would at least think the ROK government would be honest and just say no one is attending in order to not upset North Korea instead of the cover story they are using.

By the way Seoul has bought 40 of the F-35A’s at a cost of 120 billion won a piece.