Seoul hits pause on missile defense system
SEOUL, South Korea — South Korea said Wednesday it will set up an environmental review before allowing four more launchers to be added to a contentious U.S. missile defense system meant to cope with North Korean threats.
The decision was seen as a concession to China and a significant break with Washington on policy toward Pyongyang.
As if to underline the threat, North Korea launched a salvo of missiles Thursday morning, although they appeared to be cruise missiles rather than the ballistic missiles it has been firing recently. Thursday was the 10th time this year that North Korea tested missiles.
The Terminal High-Altitude Area Defense system has already been operational in southeastern South Korea with two launchers and a powerful radar. THAAD normally consists of six launchers, and the rest of the four launchers have arrived in South Korea but haven’t been deployed.
After taking office May 10, South Korea’s new liberal President Moon Jae-in said his office wasn’t briefed by defense officials about the arrival of the four additional launchers and ordered an investigation. His office said Monday that a senior defense official was suspended for his failure to report the arrival.
Mr. Moon has also demanded an environmental assessment on the deployment site, saying there are suspicions that the Defense Ministry might be trying to avoid a thorough environmental inspection there.
Gary Ross, a Pentagon spokesman, suggested that the deployment should be above politics.
Mr. Moon’s moves caused media speculation about their motives. He had said during his election campaigning that he would review a system that has enraged not only North Korea butalso China, South Korea’s largest trading partner. Beijing is concerned that THAAD’s powerful radar willbe used to spy on China.
Analysts say the environmental test would make it difficult for the four launchers to be deployed this year. South Korean and U.S. officials had earlier said they aimed to deploy the system this year.
Syria airstrike ‘legal’
A U.S. military investigation has concluded that an airstrike targeting a meeting of al-Qaida operatives in Syria was legal, on target and did not inadvertently kill scores of civilians as humanitariangroups have alleged.
The Pentagon’s classified investigation of the March 16 bombing near Aleppo found that at worst one civilian was killed or injured.
Haley criticizes U.N.
As she received a hero's welcome, Nikki Haley, the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, told Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Jerusalem on Wednesday that Israel faces bullying at the U.N. — and shehas no patience for it.
Ms. Haley arrived in Israel one day after threatening to withdraw U.S. participation in the U.N. Human Rights Council unless it changes its ways in general and its negative stance on Israel in particular.
Feuding Gulf nations
President Donald Trump is offering to mediate the Qatar diplomatic crisis by hosting the feuding countries fora White House meeting.
Mr. Trump spoke by phone on Wednesday with the emir of Qatar, Sheikh Tamin bin Hamad Al Thani. The call came the day after Mr. Trump tweeted about Qatar funding extremists, and the same day that a Saudi-led alliance imposed more punitive sanctions against Doha and Emirati Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Anwar Gargash played down the chances of a quickdiplomatic resolution.
Canadian multilateralism
Canada will step up its commitment to multilateralism at a time when “rulesbased” global order is being tested by an increasingly isolationist U.S. and a belligerent Russia, said Chrystia Freeland, the country’s foreign affairs minister.