South Korea is a possible candidate for the deployment of a THAAD missile defense battery aimed at guarding against regional threats, primarily from North Korea, a top U.S. military commander was quoted Wednesday as saying.

U.S. Army's Pacific Commander Gen. Vincent Brooks made the remark during a meeting with defense reporters Tuesday, saying the Army is pushing to have the THAAD unit deployed on the Pacific island of Guam remain there on a permanent basis, instead of the current rotational deployment.

A permanent station on Guam "will make it possible for us to have more options for commitment of THAAD in other places if asked," Brooks said, according to the defense news outlet Military.com. One of those other possible places was South Korea, though "we haven't been asked to do that," he was quoted as saying.

The website also reported that political sensitivities have thus far limited negotiations between Washington and Seoul on putting a THAAD system on the peninsula out of concern that China would see the placement in South Korea as a threat to its own security interests and the interests of its North Korean ally.

The U.S. Army deployed the THAAD battery to Guam in 2013 to cope with war threats from North Korea.

It is no secret that the U.S. also wants to deploy a THAAD unit to South Korea, where some 28,500 American troops are stationed, to better defend against ever-growing threats from North Korea's ballistic missile and nuclear programs.

But the issue has become one of the most sensitive for South Korea because China sees a potential THAAD deployment as a threat to their security interests and have increased pressure on Seoul to reject such a deployment.

Seoul and Washington have maintained they have never held any formal consultations on the issue.

"No decisions have been made on upcoming deployments of THAAD," Cmdr. Bill Urban, a U.S. Defense Department spokesman, told Yonhap News Agency.

Last week, Japan's defense minister reportedly said during a visit to Hawaii that the country is considering deploying a THAAD unit to defend against North Korea's missile threats.

The Pentagon spokesman declined comment on the possible impact of a THAAD deployment to Japan.

"We won't speculate on the impact of future decisions," he said. (Yonhap)