YonhapNews:
South Korea’s foreign minister said he barely discussed the controversial issue of deploying an advanced U.S. missile defense system on Korean soil during talks with his Russian counterpart earlier this week.
Yun Byung-se told South Korean reporters and foreign ministry officials during a luncheon in St. Petersburg on Tuesday that the topic of the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) system was raised in his meeting with Sergey Lavrov but only in passing.
“(The Russian side) mentioned a confrontational structure in Asia but barely talked about it,” Yun said. “This showed (Moscow’s) will to focus more on bilateral relations and the North Korean nuclear issue.”
Russia and China have strongly opposed the possible deployment of a THAAD battery to South Korea, claiming it would undermine the strategic balance in the region. Seoul and Washington insist the missile defense system, if placed in the South, would be purely defensive in the face of North Korea’s evolving nuclear and missile threats.
Yun highlighted the effort Moscow showed in order to make his Monday meeting with Lavrov a success.
