Why the full deployment of THAAD in Korea is smart

By Deauwand Myers

So many things. Let us first discuss the proposed deployment of American THAAD missiles in Korea. Lockheed Martin, the defense contractor who manufactures the missile defense system for America and many other countries, is not too shy to brag about its system, describing it in its white papers and online in breathy accolades: "The Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) is a highly effective, combat-proven defense against short, medium and intermediate-range ballistic missile threats. THAAD is the only U.S. system designed to intercept targets outside and inside the atmosphere." Statistically, the system has a nearly 100 percent success rate in lethal interception of ballistic missiles.

The Korea Times and other news organizations wonder if the deployment of such a system to operational status would bring ire from North Korea and China. My answer is twofold, "Yes." And "who cares?"

Let's then discuss the Chinese Communist Party. It is, for all intents and purposes, a fascist, criminal enterprise masquerading as a legitimate government. President Xi is the first Chinese president to bend the Chinese Parliament so much to his will that he now can ostensibly be president for life. I must say, his political acumen at home is brutal, ruthless and effective. He even had his name added to China's so-called constitution as Xi being the "core of the party." He is serving an unprecedented third term. He has direct control over all new security agencies. He modernized the military, the People's Liberation Army (PLA), at an exceedingly brisk rate, especially for a country with so much bureaucratic red tape and governmental graft. He silenced his perceived political enemies by accusing them of graft and having them jailed or disappeared with very little dissent.

(This last one, only having yes men and sycophants at the governing table, is always the downfall of undemocratic nations. Nazi Germany, the Soviet Union and now Russia, to name a few, are proof of why not curating a diverse group of experts to help make major decisions is just hubris and shortsighted).

However, this president-turned-dictator is unsophisticated in geopolitics. Building illegal, militarized man-made islands in the South China Sea and claiming all of it for China is outlandish. This belief that China can dictate how other countries conduct their military affairs upon sovereign nations is just puerile, childish and self-defeating. President Xi's obfuscation about the coronavirus infuriated everyone, and most probably led to millions of more hospitalizations and deaths around the world. Had China been more upfront in the information they had on the virus; their own citizens may have suffered less. China should have just used the Moderna or Pfizer vaccines, which are way more effective than China's own vaccine. Stealing of military and intellectual property by Chinese intelligence is also rampant. The bullying of Taiwan into joining China when we saw what they did to Hong Kong, again, outlandish.

China protests any military engagement with the United States, Australia, France, Taiwan and of course, Korea. Why? Both Korea and Japan are protected by the United States nuclear umbrella, which trumps good missile defense systems any day by a mile.

Further, Korea's defense needs are very different from China's. North Korea has a burgeoning missile system capable of doing serious damage to Seoul, one of the largest cities in the world, and a capital at that. On the other hand, China is an ally of North Korea and supports North Korea through illicit trade and defense aid. The CCP has no worries about a surprise missile attack coming from North Korea and the brutal Kim Regime.

Now, of course, China has important cultural and economic ties to Korea. However, trade cannot overrule sound defenses for the Korean nation from an unpredictable, violent and impoverished nation with nuclear warheads.

North Korea and China whine every time military collaboration goes on with democratic countries. Both countries complain when military exercises take place between say Korea, Japan and the United States, or when new submarine development is happening in Australia.

Just as with trade, China and North Korea must abide by international norms of trade and military exchange. The problem is they do not, not even a little bit.

No serious country should take the complaints of these two pariah nations as anything other than bluster and blunder. North Korea cannot and would not survive another war. With Japan, Korea, America and others clearly ready to militarily and diplomatically engage should China try to take Taiwan by force, the outcome could be similar to what Russia's Putin is witnessing now, loss, bloodshed, no diplomatic friends and shockingly, an attempted coup.

Korea should and will install THAAD. It is the smart move to make.

Deauwand Myers (deauwand@hotmail.com) holds a master's degree in English literature and literary theory, and is an English professor outside of Seoul.