Oh yeah, they need the money so they can now buy Korean made arms and build up their own industry while the US taxpayer who pays for their defense (30,000 US troops aren't cheap) sits unemployed.
Bastards - count me out.
It has always been thus with SK.
“So let me get this straight. We gave these to the South Koreans so they could protect themselves, and now they are selling these back to the US Veterans that sacrificed so much for them.”
Here’s the problem—they did get a lot of these rifles as Lend-Lease/MAP, yes...but they also BOUGHT a lot of them outright. And no records were kept (by us or them) on which ones were which.
There were some major questions surrounding the M1 Garands and carbines imported from Korea in the 1980s, as to whether they were not-paid-for Lend-Lease/MAP arms. Now, the Koreans are claiming that the worn-out rifles from the 1980s were the Lend-Lease rifles...and that these are the ones they bought and own outright.
I’ve heard reports (and seen a few pictures) of unopened “cans” of rifles in SK depots, but given the abuse these rifles are documented to have seen in South Korean hands (remember that many of these saw service in Vietnam as well as Korea), I won’t get my hopes up.