'THAAD can intercept missiles 100 percent'

By Jun Ji-hye

Vice Adm. James Syring, director of the U.S. Missile Defense Agency, holds a press conference at the headquarters of the Joint Chiefs of Staff in Seoul, Thursday. / Yonhap

Vice Adm. James Syring, director of the U.S. Missile Defense Agency (MDA), said Thursday that his country’s advanced anti-missile defense system, scheduled to be deployed in South Korea next year, is capable of shooting down enemy missiles 100 percent of the time.

But he added that tests against targets that replicated the threats of intermediate-range ballistic missiles (IRBM) have yet to take place and are scheduled to be conducted next year.

During his meeting with South Korean journalists at the headquarters of the Joint Chiefs of Staff in central Seoul, Syring also said the deployment of the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) unit does not mean that South Korea will join Washington’s global missile defense program.

His visit to Seoul comes amid continuous controversy and protests from local residents over a decision announced last month by Seoul and Washington to deploy the THAAD unit in South Korea by next year to better respond to the evolving North Korean missile threat.

He said that a total of 13 tests have been conducted, and the documentation on tests showed that success records were at 100 percent.

“We briefed our leadership and Congress after each test as well,” he said.

The comment was an apparent refutation against critics raising a question over the battery’s capability citing that the system has only been tested under defined conditions.

“THAAD was tested against both ground-launched targets and air-launched targets,” he said.

He added Washington is now moving to longer-range tests as the tests against the threats of short- and medium-range missiles with a range of less than 3,000 kilometers have achieved success.

“Next year, we will test the system against IRBMs,” he said.

North Korea has launched several Musudan IRBMs since April, with the sixth launch on June 22 considered successful. The North’s Korean Central News Agency claimed that the missile reached a maximum altitude of 1,413.6 kilometers and fell precisely onto a designated target 400 kilometers away in the sea.

Vice Adm. Syring also tried to calm abounding suspicions that Seoul has virtually joined the U.S.-led missile defense system (MD) by allowing the U.S. Forces Korea (USFK) to operate THAAD on its soil.

“The THAAD deployment is strictly a U.S.-ROK alliance issue in terms of information sharing,” he said. “It will not be part of the wider missile defense network that MDA has developed and commanders around the world utilize.”

He also stressed that the THAAD radar will not spy on China’s military capability as the intent of the system is to intercept North Korean ballistic missiles.

“Our missile defense system is not designed against China. We don’t defend against China as a threat … we are concerned about North Korea in this region,” he said.

He added that the battery will not damage the health of residents living nearby or their agricultural products.

Syring’s visit to Seoul was part of a routine visit throughout the Pacific Command area of operations, according to the USFK. He has led the MDA since 2012 and overseen its worldwide mission to develop the capability to defend deployed forces of the United States and allies against ballistic missile attacks.

Earlier in the day, Syring met with Gen. Vincent Brooks, the USFK commander, and discussed the need for a layered missile defense system in South Korea because of the serious nuclear and missile threats from the North, according to the USFK.

Meanwhile, the number of people signing onto a petition to the White House against THAAD deployment has reached over 100,000, according to the website We the People, a petitioning system operated by the White House. As of Thursday afternoon, a petition against THAAD drew a total of 103,947 signatures.

The petition titled “Rescind the decision to deploy THAAD antimissile system in South Korea” was submitted to the petitioning system on July 15.

The White House is expected to issue a response soon, as a petition that has 100,000 signatures within 30 days after its submission warrants an official response from the U.S. administration.

The petition, created by a person only known as “H.S.,” said, “The U.S. and South Korean governments, against wide opposition of South Koreans and strong subsequent backlash from local citizens of the deployment site, have agreed to deploy the U.S.-made THAAD system in South Korea.”

It also said, “This measure is supposedly to counter North Korean ballistic missiles and provide additional security, yet this is a controversial move that will likely to escalate tension in the region, by provoking North Korea, China and Russia into a spiraling arms race in the region.”