South Korea’s Defense Ministry on Monday attempted to downplay concerns that Seoul and Washington may retract their plans to station the U.S.’ advanced missile defense system here, saying the allies still view it as necessary for the country’s national security.

The allies have agreed to discuss the deployment of the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense system in South Korea, after North Korea carried out a Jan. 6 nuclear test and fired a long-range rocket on Feb. 7. But their plan to launch official talks has been repeatedly put on hold, with the ministry saying Monday that it does not yet know when negotiations will commence.

The official announcement for the launch of the joint working group on THAAD talks were delayed on the coattails of China, which has openly opposed the stationing of the defense system here, engaging in talks with U.S. over sanctions against North Korea last week. After the two rivals agreed on strong sanctions on Pyongyang, speculations surfaced of the THAAD plan being entirely scrapped.

Moon Sang-kyun, the spokesman for the Defense Ministry, said that he believes U.S. will retain its position that deploying THAAD is necessary to protect South Korea and U.S. citizens residing here.

“We (Seoul) feel deployment is needed and so does the U.S., which is why they requested it in the first place. ... We believe that the U.S. remains unchanged in its standpoint that THAAD is necessary,” he said in a media briefing.

Deputy Defense Minister Yoo Jeh-seung attempted to stress the strength of the Seoul-Washington alliance by saying the U.S. vowed to use all means of defense to protect South Korea during the tabletop exercise that was carried out Feb. 24-26 at the Vandenberg Air Force Base in California.

The meeting postulated a situation in which North Korea would pose threats with its nuclear programs and intercontinental ballistic missile the communist country is currently believed to be developing.

“As the situation (pn the Korean Peninsula) is dire, the tabletop exercise at this time is particularly significant. The visit was to reinforce trust in the defensive capacity of (the U.S.) to protect South Korea by demonstrating the key assets of defense,” he said.

According to Yoo, U.S. military officials believe that by targeting the contiguous U.S. with the ICBM, Pyongyang will attempt to hinder Washington’s ability to protect Seoul. He said the U.S. is able to neutralize North Korean missile threats with its ground-based interceptor system.

The South Korean delegation, led by Yoo, were given demonstration on the U.S. military assets, including the nuclear-capable B-52 bomber and Minuteman III ICBM.

But Yoo, along with the ministry, remained mum on whether or not the allies have discussed the THAAD issue. Despite being one of the South Korean delegates on the talks, he said “it was not the place to discuss THAAD.”

The ministry recently launched a section on its home page that carries information on the defense system. But the descriptions lack official citations and sources, raising questions about their credibility.

“We have sufficient evidence. I urge you to stop (questioning) as it is not suitable to debate about such issues,” Moon said during the briefing. He added that the data on THAAD -- such as for the hotly disputed effects on health and environment -- came from U.S. research, but declined to answer if South Korean officials had conducted an independent study on the matter.

It remains unclear whether the Seoul government has as clear a grasp on the issue as they claim. Despite the ministry describing the decision to place THAAD as ironclad, U.S. Pacific Commander Harry Harris had stated that “the decision to discuss it (THAAD) is not necessarily a decision to do it,” hinting at a subtle fault line between the allies.


By Yoon Min-sik
(minsikyoon@heraldcorp.com)