S. Korea, US to discuss use of missile defence system

SEOUL: South Korean and US defence officials said they would begin formal talks on the deployment on the Korean peninsula of a US missile defence system to counter the growing threat from North Korea.

“It has been decided to formally start talks on the possibility of deploying the THAAD system to South Korea as part of steps to bolster the missile defence of the Korea-US alliance,” said Yoo Jehseung, the South’s deputy defence minister for policy, yesterday.

There has been speculation for years about the deployment of the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) system – one of the most advanced in the world – to the South, one of Washington’s main Asian allies.

“The Korea-US alliance had no choice but to take such a defence action because North Korea staged a strategic provocation and is refusing to have a genuine dialogue on de-nuclearisation,” Yoo said in a joint briefing with Lieutenant General Thomas Vandal, commander of the US Eighth Army based in the South.

Vandal argued that it was “time to move forward” with the THAAD issue, claiming there was “growing support” in the South for its deployment.

Pyongyang says any such move would be a Cold War tactic to “contain” China and Russia.

However, Yoo stressed that the THAAD system – if deployed – would “operate only regarding North Korea”.

Speaking in response to the North’s rocket launch, Kim Yonghyun, chief operations officer at the South’s Joint Chiefs of Staff, told lawmakers yesterday that the upcoming annual joint US-South Korea military exercises would be the largest yet held.