Doubts growing over THAAD deployment plan

A placard that reads "No THAAD in Gimcheon" is hung in Joma Township in Gimcheon, North Gyeongsang Province, Friday. Residents there hung three such placards amid rumors that Geumsu Township in Seongju Country near Joma Township could be an alternative site for a U.S. Terminal High Altitude Area Defense battery. / Korea Times

Park's remark on site change fuels confusion

By Jun Ji-hye

The government is facing growing doubts over whether it can allow the deployment of a U.S. anti-missile battery by next year after President Park Geun-hye raised the possibility of choosing an alternative location within Seongju County in North Gyeongsang Province.

Park said this during a meeting with ruling party lawmakers, Thursday, in an effort to calm the fears of Seongju residents over the safety of the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) system. However, military officials say it will take considerable time to find a new site and build a base for an artillery unit, which means deploying the system by next year would be almost impossible.

On July 13, the Ministry of National Defense announced that the anti-missile battery will be set up in Seongsan-ri, which is currently home to the South Korean Air Force's air defense artillery unit that operates a Hawk ground-to-air missile battery. The ministry said THAAD will be fully deployed by the end of next year as threats from North Korea's nuclear and missile program are growing.

"The reason why the two countries can be sure that the deployment will be done by next year is that the artillery unit already exists in Seongsan-ri, meaning that the military does not need to build a site," a military official said on condition of anonymity.

Finding a new suitable place and building another site from scratch would take at least four to five years and tens of billions of won as the military needs to remove the top of a mountain and purchase adjacent privately owned land. In this case, the deployment is impossible within Park's tenure and will be handed over to the next government as she completes her term in office in February 2018.

Then, the presidential election scheduled for December next year could become a factor in the deployment plan as presidential hopefuls from the opposition parties including Rep. Ahn Cheol-soo and Seoul Mayor Park Won-soon have expressed strong opposition to the system. They are highly likely to highlight the negative aspects of THAAD when the election looms, which could pose a serious setback to the plan.

Objectors to THAAD raise doubts over the battery's capability, as the system has only been tested under defined conditions and never used in practice. They also cite China's strong opposition, saying the deployment will worsen Seoul-Beijing relations, and South Korea's top trading partner could take trade retaliation.

Speculation is also rampant that China, a veto-wielding United Nations Security Council member and North Korea's traditional ally, will remain uncooperative in seeking measures against Pyongyang's provocations to protest the deployment.

In addition, resistance from Seongju residents has been showing no signs of dying down as they keep calling on the government to retract the deployment plan, out of concerns that the electromagnetic waves emitted from the AN/TPY-2 radar could damage health and agricultural products.

Meanwhile, residents in Joma Township in Gimcheon County posted placards criticizing the government, Friday, amid rumors that a mountain in Geumsu Township in Seongju County near Joma could be an alternative site for the THAAD battery.

Other possible alternative locations mentioned in the media also include a mountain in Suryun Township.

Observers say that if protests continue, Seoul and Washington may not be able to deploy the THAAD battery by next year, because the residents have vowed to resist by every possible means, including legal action.

On Friday, Cheong Wa Dae said the government's position to deploy the system by next year remains unchanged, but added that it will consider an alternative location although it "may not be easy" to find a new site.

"Although it may not be easy to change the already designated site, the government will conduct a thorough study to see if there is another site capable of hosting the THAAD battery should there be a request for such a study," presidential spokesman Jung Youn-kuk told reporters.

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