Reuters:
The deployment in South Korea of the U.S. military’s THAAD system, designed to counter North Korea’s missile threat, will go ahead as planned under a Trump administration, the South’s ruling party chief said on Wednesday, citing the defense minister.
Saenuri Party policy chief Kim Gwang-lim said plans for the deployment of the Terminal High Altitude Area Defence anti-missile system were near complete.
Kim was briefing the media after a meeting by senior party members with national security ministers, including Defence Minister Han Min-koo, to discuss the U.S. presidential election, won by Republican Donald Trump.
“THAAD is all but confirmed so it’ll go ahead,” Kim quoted Han as saying.
But the South Korean government was concerned Trump may make unpredictable proposals to North Korea over the isolated country’s nuclear weapons program, a ruling party official said, quoting top national security officials.
A Trump spokesman said in September that North Korea’s most recent nuclear test was an example of the “catastrophic failures” of his Democratic rival, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.
