Yonhap News:
WASHINGTON, April 15 (Yonhap) — The U.S. Forces Korea commander on Wednesday voiced the need for deploying the THAAD missile defense system to South Korea, saying it would provide a “layered defense” for American troops and bolster capabilties of the existing systems.
The deployment pf a Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) battery “would give us a high-tier defense and so therefore rather we would have a layered defense and those systems would enhance the capability of our present Patriot systems that are on the peninsula today,” Gen. Curtis Scaparrotti said during a House Armed Services Committee hearing.
He was answering a question why it is important to deploy THAAD to South Korea to protect about 28,500 American troops stationed there to help protect the Asian ally from North Korean threats.
Scaparrotti is the one who brought up the need for a THAAD battery in South Korea for the first time in June last year. The issue has since become one of the most sensitive defense and political issues in Seoul as China and Russia have expressed strong opposition to such a deployment.
Supporters say the advanced missile defense unit is necessary to meet ever-growing missile and nuclear threats from North Korea, while opponents claim mid- and lower-altitude missile interceptors are enough for the South as the North is unlikely to attack the country with such high-altitude missiles.
Regarding North Korea’s nuclear and missile capabilities, Scaparrotti said he assumes the communist nation has the capability to deliver a ballistic missiles with a nuclear warhead.
“They claim to have a capabilty to deliver a nuclear-tipped ballistic missile. They paraded it and they’ve shown it to us. But they haven’t tested it,” he said. “But I, as a commander, I have to be prudent and assume that they can deliver one and act on that basis.”
