Tag: THAAD

The THAAD battery already has what is called an initial operational capability, so this doesn’t stop the deployment of the THAAD battery as claimed.  All this announcement of an environmental assessment means is that the four additional launchers cannot be installed.  This ultimately means less THAAD interceptors to defend the country to appease those against the deployment:

The government will conduct a full-scale environmental study on the U.S. military’s deployment of a controversial antimissile battery in Korea, a senior security adviser to President Moon Jae-in said Thursday, stressing that the probe will delay the installment of the battery.

Chung Eui-yong, head of the National Security Office of the Blue House, addressed the latest controversy surrounding the U.S. deployment of the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense, or Thaad system. An investigation of top security officials from the previous administration is currently ongoing to find out if they intentionally withheld from the Moon government information on the delivery of four additional launchers for the system.

“In order to conduct a more thorough environmental-impact study, I think [the deployment] may take more time than originally planned,” Chung said. “But I cannot predict how long the environmental study will take.”

Chung made the remark as he arrived in Washington to meet with senior U.S. officials to prepare for the upcoming summit between Moon and U.S. President Donald Trump.  [Joong Ang Ilbo]

You can read more at the link, but does anyone else find it interesting that a one year environmental assessment needs to be done on a golf course that was dug into the top of the mountain whatever natural vegetation and wildlife there has already been developed over?  Are they going to assess the potential damage the launcher back blast area will have on the putting greens before it can be installed?

That is what opposition parties in Korea are supposedly claiming:

Since the Blue House’ probe of the incident, the Thaad deployment may have to stop for a while. The four additional launchers cannot be activated anytime soon. Public criticism of the deployment is spreading. While opposition parties believe the presidential office is attempting to sway public opinion to support a cancellation of the deployment, the Pentagon insists the deployment procedure was transparent. Our internal friction could also damage a summit in June in Washington between Moon and U.S. President Donald Trump.  [Joong Ang Ilbo]

You can read more at the link, but in my opinion the Blue House is looking for reasons to put the Defense Ministry on the defensive and possibly clean house.  This allows the Blue House to appease their left wing base that is against the THAAD deployment without actually cancelling it.  I would be very surprised if President Moon tries to cancel the THAAD deployment considering the ramifications to the US-ROK alliance.

Plus I think President Moon being the experienced politician he is wants negative public opinion against the deployment which he can use for upcoming cost sharing talks between the US and the ROK.  President Moon can basically counter President Trump’s demand for the ROK to pay for THAAD by saying the majority of the ROK population does not want THAAD so why should they pay for it?  This allows the ROK to get the defense benefits of THAAD without having to pay for it.

This is playing out like I expected, the Moon Jae-in administration will make protests and complaints domestically to appease their base that was against the THAAD deployment, but ultimately will not change it and just blame the last administration for deploying it:

President Moon Jae-in said Wednesday South Korea’s ongoing probe of the delivery of a U.S. missile defense system is not intended to reverse its deployment agreement between the two countries but to conduct it with appropriate domestic procedures, according to the presidential office.

Moon ordered a probe on Tuesday into the “undisclosed” delivery of four additional launchers of the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense system after the defense ministry failed to report it to the presidential policy advisory panel in a recent briefing.

During a meeting with visiting U.S. Senator Dick Durbin, he said South Korea will continue to host the THAAD under the correct domestic procedures.

“Procedures over THAAD are entirely domestic ones; we do not intend to change the existing decision or send a different message to the U.S.,” Moon told Durbin at the presidential office, according to presidential spokesman Park Soo-hyun.  [Yonhap]

You can read more at the link.

This photo, taken on May 30, 2017, shows a Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) launcher installed upright at a golf course in Seongju, about 300 kilometers southeast of Seoul. On the same day, President Moon Jae-in ordered a special probe into what the presidential office called the secret or undisclosed entry of four THAAD launchers into the country under the missile defense system deployed here. (Yonhap)

A standard THAAD battery comes with six launchers, you would think the President’s staff would know this, even Wikipedia knows this:

South Korea’s presidential office made it clear Tuesday that it has not received any formal briefing from the defense ministry on the presence of additional THAAD rocket launchers here.

The ministry said it has already briefed Cheong Wa Dae on the issue, responding to President Moon Jae-in’s call for a probe into the matter related to the allies’ missile defense system.

Moon said it’s “very shocking” that the ministry had kept secret or did not announce the introduction of four more THAAD rocket launchers, according to his spokesman Yoon Young-chan. The equipment arrived in Korea apparently weeks or months ago.

A ministry official, however, said Wee Seung-ho, deputy minister for policy, briefed Moon’s national security adviser Chung Eui-yong on pending defense issues last Friday.

“At that time, he reported the entry of four additional launchers (into South Korea),” the official said on the condition of anonymity, adding it reflects the ministry’s official position.

Moon’s office refuted the ministry’s statement.

There was no report on the extra THAAD launchers waiting to be installed at a former golf course in Seongju, North Gyeongsang Province, which has been chosen as the THAAD site, said Cheong Wa Dae.

One thing that seems certain is that Moon did not receive any briefing on the subject during his visit to the ministry a week after taking office. It’s not clear whether he first raised the THAAD issue.

The State Affairs Planning Advisory Committee, a de-facto transition team for Moon, also said that it was told about only two THAAD launchers in operation, not about the other four, when receiving a briefing from the ministry.

The truth behind the dispute remains unconfirmed.  [Yonhap]

The Joong Ang Ilbo is reporting that the Defense Ministry may be trying avoid an environmental assessment for the four launchers:

“The president was briefed that four launchers, in addition to the two already installed in Seongju, were clandestinely brought in and stored in Korea,” Yoon Young-chan, senior secretary for public relations, said Tuesday. “Today, Moon ordered his senior secretary for civil affairs and chief of the national security office to conduct a thorough investigation over how the four additional launchers were brought in.”  (…….)

“Moon asked his aides to investigate why the four additional launchers were brought in, who made the decision, why it was not made public and why the new administration was not told about it,” Yoon said. “He also ordered that the investigation must look into the suspicion that the four launchers were kept secret in order to avoid an environmental impact assessment.”  [Joong Ang Ilbo]

If an environmental assessment was done for two launchers, what difference would four more make?  They have to tear up a few more putting greens to put them in?  It is not like an old growth rain forest needs to be cut down to put the launchers in.

You can read more at the link, but I would not be surprised if this is a political show to demonstrate to Moon’s supporters that the new administration is going to get tough on the Defense Ministry in regards to the THAAD deployment without actually changing the decision.

I guess we will see what happens.

Many people have kind of expected the Chinese boycott to slowly dwindle away after a while and it appears it is beginning to go away:

China appears to be easing up on a wide-ranging unofficial boycott of Korean goods and service over the stationing of a Terminal High-Altitude Area Defense battery from the U.S. here.

The state-run People’s Daily, a bellwether of official opinion, repeatedly referred to Korea as a “close neighbor” recently after a telephone call between President Moon Jae-in, who is skeptical about the deployment, and his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping on May 11. This was closely followed by the dispatch of a special envoy to Beijing, former prime minister Lee Hae-chan, last week.

Korean businesses are resuming marketing in China that ground to a screeching halt amid the THAAD spat, and there are signs of sales recovering.

Chinese travel agencies expect Beijing to lift a ban on cut-price group tours to Korea as early as July, and visa applications are rising to 50 to 60 percent of last year’s level after falling to as low as 20 percent.

Chinese travel agencies are asking Korea tour operators about their packages again. The head of one travel agency here said, “Last week, three or four Chinese travel agencies expressed interest in summer tours. We have yet to see actual reservations, but the atmosphere has definitely changed. [Chosun Ilbo]

You can read the rest at the link.

Just when you thought the anti-THAAD silliness in China couldn’t get any stupider along comes this:

A rap group backed by China’s government is warning South Korea in a music video that “you’re going too far” with the deployment of a U.S. missile defense system, as Beijing seeks to bring its state-supported cultural forces to bear in the international dispute.

A member of the group CD REV said government officials worked with them on the video and helped to promote it on foreign websites, many of which are blocked in China by official censors emboldened by the ruling Communist Party’s warnings against foreign “cultural infiltration.”

In the song, group members chant that “about THAAD we say no, no, no,” a reference to the U.S. Army’s missile defense system formally known as Terminal High Altitude Area Defense.

Later in the song, they refer to South Korea, saying, “this time, kid, you’re going too far” and “your big brother’s annoyed,” a nod to China’s view of itself as the pre-eminent political and economic power in northeast Asia.  [Stars & Stripes]

You can read more at the link.

It would be very interesting to see what the Trump administration reaction to any demand by South Korea to remove THAAD would be if the liberal Democratic Party gets its way:

The floor leader of the ruling Democratic Party on Wednesday raised the possibility of sending back a recently installed missile defense system to the United States if there are any procedural problems with its deployment.

Rep. Woo Won-shik also reiterated that the deployment of the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (Thaad) battery to South Korea requires parliamentary approval.

“We have to look into issues including the possibility of sending back Thaad, if it has not properly undergone domestic legal procedures,” Woo said during a radio interview, who was elected floor leader on Tuesday.

The liberal party has long called for a suspension of the Thaad installation and stressed the need to secure parliamentary approval, claiming that the former government failed to forge sufficient public consensus over the crucial national defense decision.  [Joong Ang Ilbo]

You can read more at the link.

This photo, released by the (North) Korean Central TV Station on May 10, 2017, is a composite of satellite images which the North claims show a golf course in South Korea’s southeastern county of Seongju where an advanced U.S. missile defense system, dubbed the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense, has been deployed. (Yonhap)

It looks like the honeymoon for Lieutenant General H.R. McMaster is over if the media is to be believed:

McMaster’s allies and adversaries inside the White House tell me that Trump is disillusioned with him. This professional military officer has failed to read the president  — by not giving him a chance to ask questions during briefings, at times even lecturing Trump.

Presented with the evidence of this buyer’s remorse, the White House on Sunday evening issued a statement from Trump: “I couldn’t be happier with H.R. He’s doing a terrific job.”

Other White House officials however tell me this is not the sentiment the president has expressed recently in private. Trump was livid, according to three White House officials, after reading in the Wall Street Journal that McMaster had called his South Korean counterpart to assure him that the president’s threat to make that country pay for a new missile defense system was not official policy. These officials say Trump screamed at McMaster on a phone call, accusing him of undercutting efforts to get South Korea to pay its fair share.  [Bloomberg]

You can read more at the link, but who knows what the real story is when this is all sourced from anonymous leaks from officials in the White House probably eager to undercut General McMaster’s influence with President Trump.