SKorea suspends deployment of American missile defense system

TOKYO — South Korea has suspended the deployment of a controversial American missile defense system, with the new liberal administration declaring no further moves can take place until an environmental assessment is carried out — a process that could take a year or even two.

The decision highlights the potential for a rift between the United States under a Republican president and South Korea with its new liberal president, Moon Jae-in, who is due to visit President Donald Trump in the White House later this month for their first meeting.

But Moon’s office Wednesday said it would suspend the deployment of the Terminal High Altitude Air Defense system, an anti-missile battery designed to protect the South against North Korea but which has elicited strong opposition, particularly where it is being deployed.

The U.S. Army had expedited the movement of the THAAD battery to South Korea ahead of Moon’s anticipated victory in the snap presidential election last month. Moon had vowed to review the previous government’s decision to host the system.

Two launchers and the powerful X-band radar were already in place before his victory on May 9, but Moon expressed outrage last week when it emerged that four more launchers had been brought into the country without his knowledge.

A full THAAD battery contains six launchers mounted on trucks, each capable of firing eight interceptor missiles. But Moon’s office accused an official in the Defense Ministry of deliberately failing to tell the president’s staff about the arrival of the final four launchers. Moon called the omission incident “very shocking” and ordered an investigation. A deputy defense minister was suspended as a result.

An official from the president’s office Wednesday said that the missile defense system would be frozen as it is.

“We are not saying the two launchers and other equipment that has already been deployed should be withdrawn. But those that have yet to be deployed will have to wait,” a senior official told reporters in Seoul, according to the Yonhap News Agency.

The president had ordered a full-blown environmental impact assessment into the deployment, on the grounds of a former golf course in the southern area of Seongju.