should pay the billion-dollar bill. south korea says wait, there was an agreement in place that the u.s. would pay the $1 billion and that south korea would provide the land on which the system sits. they're saying they have held up their end of the deal, providing that land. over the weekend you did have the national security adviser seemingly smoothing things over publicly on the sunday shows and also behind the scenes talking to his counterparts right here in south korea. they now say that, yes, the u.s. will go ahead and pay the $1 billion for now. south korean officials are saying it was explained to them that the president's comments were made in the broader context about conversations in the future about how defense expenses are shared between the u.s. and its allies. if that sounds familiar to you, it's because that's the rhetoric we heard so often from donald trump when he was candidate trump, back on the campaign trail. he said the u.s. would have to re-evaluate its defense spending. but this is a critical time on the peninsula. tensions are high, so the u.s. is saying they are paying for thaad and they are trying to send assurances to the allies here that the alliance remains strong and that defense and security are top priorities.