Tag: THAAD

That is what the below report in the Hankyoreh is speculating could happen if North Korea launches a rocket in October:

The main variable in future diplomatic trends is the question of whether North Korea will launch a long-range rocket. There has been discussion of the possibility of North Korea testing a long-range rocket on the pretext of putting a satellite into orbit on Oct. 10, the 70th anniversary of the foundation of the Korean Workers’ Party.

Indeed, a video was posted on Uriminzokkiri, a website that North Korea uses to send propaganda to South Korea, in which the anchor said, “South Korea’s opposition parties, press, and experts urged the government not to cast a chill on inter-Korean relations, which are starting to thaw at last, simply because North Korea launches a satellite.”Experts suspect that North Korea’s suggestive comments are intended to provide justification for the upcoming rocket launch.   (………………)

This could also lead to renewed calls from the US and Japan to deploy THAAD (Terminal High Altitude Area Defense) on the Korean Peninsula to defend against North Korean rockets. If South Korea is dragged into a discussion of THAAD, opposition from China could strain relations between the two countries.  [Hankyoreh]

You can read more at the link.

The US Ambassador to Korea says that is premature to begin official talks in regards to deploying THAAD to Korea:

The top U.S. envoy to South Korea said it would be premature for Seoul and Washington to publicly discuss the possible deployment of a new U.S. anti-missile defense system in South Korea, an opposition party spokesman said Monday.

Ambassador Mark Lippert said that no formal negotiations took place between the two allies over the Terminal High-Altitude Area Defense battery, though internal discussions are under way in the U.S., said Kim Yung-rok, a spokesman for the main opposition New Politics Alliance for Democracy.

Lippert made the comment through an interpreter in a meeting with Moon Jae-in, head of the main opposition party at the party headquarters.

Lippert defended the missile-defense system, citing what he described as serious threats posed by North Korea’s missile and nuclear programs.  [Yonhap]

You can read the rest at the link.

I hope someone has since told Richard Armitage that the THAAD missile defense system is for the defense of South Korea and not the US mainland because the system is not designed to shoot down ICBMs:

The main purpose of U.S. efforts to deploy a THAAD missile defense unit to South Korea is to protect the U.S. mainland from North Korean missile threats, a former top American diplomat said Wednesday.

Former Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage made the remark during a security seminar on Korea, claiming that hosting a Terminal High Altitude Area Defense battery is a responsibility South Korea has as an ally of the United States.

“I think the United States has approached this incorrectly … I think we have not been as clear … about what THAAD does as we should have been,” Armitage said during the seminar hosted by the Center for Strategic and International Studies and the Korea Foundation.

“I see the deployment of THAAD as an alliance responsibility for the Republic of Korea because THAAD, although it covers some of the Republic of Korea, … it is more for the defense of the United States, the continental United States against North Korean missiles,” he said.  [Korea Herald]

You can read more at the link, but the system the US has to shoot down North Korean ICBMs is the Ground-based Midcourse Defense System (GMD) which has interceptors in Alaska and California.

Here is the latest on the THAAD front:

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry for the first time on Monday pushed openly for the deployment of the U.S.’ Terminal High Altitude Area Defense system in South Korea. 
The need “to be prepared for every possible outcome… is why we need to deploy ships, forces… and we are talking about THAAD,” Kerry told U.S. soldiers at their garrison in Yongsan, Seoul. 
He reiterated the importance of keeping U.S. forces on the peninsula, saying North Korean threats are the reason for the deployment of vessels and troops here.
Seoul has maintained a flimsy fiction that the controversial deployment of THAAD batteries has not been discussed because they form the core of the U.S.’ missile strategy aimed at containing China. [Chosun Ilbo]

You can read more at the link. 

Deployment of US missile defense considered for South Korea http://t.co/gGUMQGYQWp #KoreaNews

— Korea News Summary (@ROKreport) April 16, 2015

Members of civic groups stage a rally in front of the defense ministry in Seoul on April 10, 2015, to voice their objection to the possible deployment of a Terminal High-Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) system in South Korea and the establishment of an integrated air and missile-defense system among the United States, South Korea and Japan to deter North Korea’s evolving security threats. (Yonhap)

Defense Secretary Ashton Carter is in Seoul discussing the US defense commitment to the peninsula:

Defence Secretary Ashton Carter promised Friday that the US would deploy state of the art weaponry in Asia, including the latest stealth bombers and cyber warfare units, to counter threats posed by the likes of North Korea.

“Our newest and best things are being deployed to this part of the world,” Carter said in Seoul — the second leg of a visit to the two key US military allies in the region, Japan and South Korea. (…………)

Stressing that military deterrence and readiness were “at a premium” on the divided peninsula, Carter said the US was investing in “advanced capabilities …. tailored to this dynamic security environment.”

Asked to expand, he cited new stealth bombers, F-35 stealth fighters and highly developed cyber warfare systems that could be rotationally deployed in the Asian theatre.  [AFP]

You can read the rest at the link, but what wasn’t supposedly discussed was the deployment of a THAAD missile defense system to South Korea which continues to be a touchy subject due to Beijing’s objections to the deployment.

It sounds like some in South Korea are getting tired of hearing complaints from the Chinese and Russians against the deployment of the THAAD missile defense system:

On Thursday, the Russian ambassador to South Korea called the proposed deployment of a U.S. missile defense system on the peninsula a security threat to the region, the third time in as many weeks that he has weighed in on the issue.

In an interview with Yonhap News Agency, Alexander Timonin, who served as the ambassador to North Korea until last year, said the deployment of Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) on the Korean Peninsula would constitute a security threat to both Russia and the wider region.

“What concerns us is that a U.S. missile defense system could be placed in areas not far from Russia, adding to worries over THAAD’s radar system or technology,” he told Yonhap.  (…….)

“Of course it has multi-purpose tasks. One of the tasks, of course, is North Korea,” Vorontsov told The Diplomat on Thursday. “But, additionally, the capability of this system allows this equipment to intercept missiles, Russian… missiles for example. So, yes, unfortunately, there are grounds for concern vis-a-vis [the] security situation of Russia… and the Chinese.”  (……………..)

But some Koreans have received the Russian and Chinese objections coldly.

Song Dae-sung, a professor of political science and former brigadier general with the South Korean Air Force, said that Russia and China preventing THAAD would be the same as South Korea demanding the removal of Russian and Chinese missile placements that could target the Korean Peninsula.

“If China and Russia really hate the placement of THAAD in South Korea, they can take resolute action to ensure the destruction of weapons of mass destruction held by North Korea and a halt to their development,” the Konkuk University professor told The Diplomat late last month. “The insistence that we only consider the South Korea-China and South Korea-Russia relationships and not deploy THAAD, which is opposed by China and Russia, is an insistence that neglects the absolute value of national security.”  [The Diplomat]

You can read the rest at the link, but I do find it interesting that a Russian is publicly complaining about THAAD preventing their country from shooting missiles at South Korea.

General Dempsey was in town and supposedly the word THAAD was never uttered one time:

The military chiefs of South Korea and the United States met Friday in Seoul to talk about a range of defense issues, though Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) said the hot potato issue of the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense system, or Thaad, was not discussed.

Gen. Martin Dempsey, the Chairman of the American JCS, paid a visit to the National Cemetery Friday and then to the Korean JCS in Yongsan, central Seoul, where he had a discussion with his Korean counterpart Adm. Choi Yoon-hee and other JCS members. Dempsey was on the second day of a three-day visit to South Korea

During the talks, the two top military officials discussed the transfer of wartime operation control, measures to strengthen the combined defense posture of the two countries and also the future of the alliance.  [Joong Ang Ilbo]

You can read more at the link.

That is what the Hankyoreh is claiming that Chinese military planners are planning for:

China is ratcheting up the tenor of its opposition to the possible deployment of a Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) system on the Korean peninsula in the wake of a recent visit by Assistant Minister of Foreign Affairs Liu Jianchao. Meanwhile, South Korea and the US are responding on increasingly firm notes. After previously sending the cautious message that nothing had been decided or discussed, they are now bluntly insisting that Beijing keep out the matter. US Forces Korea also looks to be speeding up its preparations, delivering its first confirmation of recent surveys of THAAD candidate sites. It is still too early to tell what the specifics of Beijing’s response will be. But it appears unlikely to remain passive if the US deploys THAAD, a missile interception system, on the Korean Peninsula, as China sees it as a threat to key military security interests.

Beijing has yet to speak publicly about the specific reasons for its opposition. But its concern appears to be that the USFK system is a response to its own A2/AD strategy for preventing the introduction of US troops in the event of an emergency. A2/AD, which stands for “anti-access/area denial,” is a strategy for preventing US troops from accessing sites like Taiwan or the Senkaku Islands (called Diaoyu in China) under an emergency scenario (anti-access) and preventing effective mobile operations by US forces (area denial). As part of the strategy, China has reportedly developed and deployed the Dong-Feng 21 (DF-21) ballistic missile, new anti-ship cruise missiles (ASCMs), and nuclear-power submarines and drafted scenarios for preventing US naval and air forces from reaching a second island chain (maritime defense line) and first island chain.

The focus of attention for many is the inclusion of both US bases in South Korea and Japan as targets for A2/AD strikes. China is also reportedly working on a strategy for potentially ambushing and knocking out Air Force bases in Osan, Gyeonggi Province and Gunsan, North Jeolla Province, which it fears could be used as scrambling bases for US aircrafts. China’s concern has long been that USFK bases could be used against it, rather than simply as deterrents against North Korea. Its fears were fanned after South Korea and the US reached a “strategic flexibility” agreement in Jan. 2006 that guaranteed free access to the peninsula for USFK. The move was an official signal that USFK was not just a fixture of the peninsula, but a force that could be deployed anywhere to suit US needs.  [Hankyoreh]

You can read more at the link, but if China is planning to attack USFK bases in a Taiwan contingency it seems it would further justify why additional missile defense assets are needed on the peninsula, not less.