S. Korea, China resolve dispute over missile plan

Defense system from U.S. was source of tension

SEOUL, South Korea — South Korea and China have agreed to end a dispute over the deployment of an advanced U.S. missile defense system in the South and to restore their economic and other ties.

The agreement, unveiled after low-key negotiations involving Chinese and South Korean officials, removed a major obstacle in relations between Seoul and Beijing, one that has complicated international efforts to tame North Korea’s nuclear weapons ambitions.

For years, China has protested the United States’ plan to deploy the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense, or THAAD, system in South Korea, fearing it would undercut its own national security. After the U.S. and South Korea pressed ahead with the deployment in Seongju, 135 miles southeast of Seoul, the capital, in April, Chinese customers have boycotted South Korean cars, movies and television dramas, as well as South Korean-run supermarkets.

“Both sides shared the view that the strengthening of exchange and cooperation between Korea and China serves their common interests and agreed to expeditiously bring exchange and cooperation in all areas back on a normal development track,” said a statement from the South Korean Foreign Ministry on Tuesday.

The Chinese Foreign Ministry also issued a similar statement announcing the agreement Tuesday.

For months, Seoul and Beijing appeared to have been deadlocked over their dispute over THAAD.

The breakthrough came only days after President Xi Jinping of China emerged triumphant from the Communist Party congress, more confident than ever in his hold on power. The inauguration of Moon Jae-in, who has stressed the importance of relations with China, his country’s biggest trading partner, in May has also helped thaw relations.

In a separate statement, Moon’s office said he would hold a summit meeting with Xi on the sidelines of an upcoming summit of Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation countries in Vietnam on Nov. 10-11.

Foreign Minister Kang Kyung-wha of South Korea first hinted at a possible breakthrough Monday, when she said that despite the THAAD deployment, South Korea had no intention of joining the United States’ efforts to build a regionwide missile-defense system aimed at countering China’s expansion of its military capabilities. Kang also said South Korea would not accept any additional THAAD batteries.

She also reiterated that South Korea would not enter any trilateral military alliance with the U.S. and Japan, something that Xi raised concerns about when he met Moon in July. The U.S. remains South Korea’s most important military ally.