The Korea Herald:
Amid North Korea’s evolving nuclear and missile threats, the stationing of advanced U.S. missile assets on the peninsula would boost the allies’ defense capabilities, a leading Washington think tank said Wednesday.
Speculation persists that Washington is seeking to deploy a unit of the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense system in the South, though U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Tony Blinken reiterated that no decision has been made yet during a news conference in Seoul on Wednesday.
In a comprehensive 290-page report commissioned by the Pentagon on the Asia-Pacific rebalance strategy, the Center for Strategic and International Studies said Seoul will benefit from the battery’s presence despite its ongoing program to develop a similar system on its own.
“The ROK (South Korean) military has expressed interest in developing an indigenous THAAD-like system, but U.S. experience with these types of systems suggests a multi-decade effort would be required to develop and deploy such a missile defense system,” the document said.
“Given the growing missile threat from North Korea, THAAD provides a valuable capability.”
While many Seoul officials acknowledge THAAD’s perceived contribution to peninsula defense, Seoul is wary of the stiff opposition of China and Russia, which view its deployment here as de facto participation in the U.S.-led global missile defense program that they say is directed at them.
South Korea remains unwavering in its stance that any battery positioning will be conducted with both its own security interests and Pyongyang’s threats taken into account. The military, for the time being, is currently striving to establish the Kill Chain and Korea Air and Missile Defense preemptive strike schemes by the early 2020s, which it argues will be interoperable with — but not part of — the U.S. systems.
“U.S. complaints reflect frustration at a lack of transparent consultations by South Korea, and the lack of doctrine, organization, training, material, leadership and education, personnel and facilities internalization by the ROK military,” the report said.
“Chinese demarches have made the potential U.S. deployment of THAAD on the peninsula a sensitive issue for Seoul, despite the fact that South Korea has no area defense capabilities against North Korean ballistic missiles.”
In Seoul, President Park Geun-hye convened a pan-government meeting with about 230 cabinet members, top intelligence, military, police and local government chiefs to assess the security situation in the aftermath of the communist state’s fourth nuclear test and this year’s integrated defense policies.
With the U.N. Security Council working on a new resolution, she reaffirmed her commitment to draw “all possible effective sanctions” to make Pyongyang “pay its price” for the recent provocation.
The chairmen of the Joint Chiefs of Staff of South Korea, the U.S. and Japan are also expected to hold their second meeting as early as next month, military officials here said Thursday, as the three partners are looking into uni- and trilateral punitive steps on the diplomatic, military and other various fronts.
“North Korea abandoned the people’s expectations and again threatened peace on the peninsula and the international community by pressing ahead with the nuclear experiment at the beginning of the new year,” Park said during the integrated defense talks.
“What’s more concerning is that North Korea’s provocations against the South and military threats are increasingly sophisticated, which will further increase the security uncertainties on the peninsula.”
