Vice Adm. James Syring, director of the U.S. Missile Defense Agency (MDA), said Thursday that his country’s advanced anti-missile defense system, scheduled to be deployed in South Korea next year, is capable of shooting down enemy missiles 100 percent of the time.

But he added that tests against targets that replicated the threats of intermediate-range ballistic missiles (IRBM) have yet to take place and are scheduled to be conducted next year.

During his meeting with South Korean journalists at the headquarters of the Joint Chiefs of Staff in central Seoul, Syring also said the deployment of the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) unit does not mean that South Korea will join Washington’s global missile defense program.

His visit to Seoul comes amid continuous controversy and protests from local residents over a decision announced last month by Seoul and Washington to deploy the THAAD unit in South Korea by next year to better respond to the evolving North Korean missile threat.

He said that a total of 13 tests have been conducted, and the documentation on tests showed that success records were at 100 percent.

“We briefed our leadership and Congress after each test as well,” he said.

The comment was an apparent refutation against critics raising a question over the battery’s capability citing that the system has only been tested under defined conditions.

“THAAD was tested against both ground-launched targets and air-launched targets,” he said.

He added Washington is now moving to longer-range tests as the tests against the threats of short- and medium-range missiles with a range of less than 3,000 kilometers have achieved success.

“Next year, we will test the system against IRBMs,” he said.

North Korea has launched several Musudan IRBMs since April, with the sixth launch on June 22 considered successful. The North’s Korean Central News Agency claimed that the missile reached a maximum altitude of 1,413.6 kilometers and fell precisely onto a designated target 400 kilometers away in the sea.

Vice Adm. Syring also tried to calm abounding suspicions that Seoul has virtually joined the U.S.-led missile defense system (MD) by allowing the U.S. Forces Korea (USFK) to operate THAAD on its soil.

“The THAAD deployment is strictly a U.S.-ROK alliance issue in terms of information sharing,” he said. “It will not be part of the wider missile defense network that MDA has developed and commanders around the world utilize.”

He also stressed that the THAAD radar will not spy on China’s military capability as the intent of the system is to intercept North Korean ballistic missiles.

“Our missile defense system is not designed against China. We don’t defend against China as a threat … we are concerned about North Korea in this region,” he said.