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'S. Korea needs to block THAAD deployment'
By Jun Ji-hye
Paik Hak-soon Researcher at Sejong Institute
By Jun Ji-hye
National security analyst Paik Hak-soon believes that the government should oppose any move by the United States to deploy its latest ballistic missile interception system in South Korea as part of its missile defense (MD) program.
“A Terminal High-Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) missile battery is actually ineffective to neutralize ballistic missiles from North Korea unlike its primary purpose,” said Paik, the director of the Center for North Korean Studies at the Sejong Institute in a recent interview.
He said THAAD is designed to shoot down missiles at high altitudes, and the North is too close to be affected by such a defense system.
The THAAD system is designed to detect and intercept missiles during their final or terminal phase of flight.
“While the primary role of the anti-missile defense shield has been called into question, Washington’s consistent efforts to bring it here have irritated Beijing and Moscow,” he said.
Washington and Seoul have stressed that the battery is a defensive measure against missile threats from the North, but China feels vulnerable due to the radar system alone, as it could potentially snoop on its radar systems.
Paik said China has understood the importance of U.S.-South Korea relations to a considerable extent, despite U.S.-China rivalry, as the two Koreas are still technically at war with each other.
But Beijing is objecting to possible THAAD deployment because it believes the system is a strategic weapon for the U.S. and can also threaten the country, Paik said. He noted that the deployment is regarded as an attempt by Washington to get its Asian ally to join its MD system to contain the influence of China and Russia.
The Ministry of National Defense has emphasized that Seoul will build its own Korean Air and Missile Defense System (KAMD), rather than joining the U.S. system. But Paik claimed that as long as THAAD is stationed here, the nation’s defense system will inevitably belong to the U.S. system under the name of maintaining interoperability. And this will result in South Korea being swept away by a confrontation of world powers.
“It sounds unrealistic. But let’s suppose a world war breaks out,” he said. “The first thing that China would do would be to attack the THAAD battery stationed in South Korea to remove its functions to intercept the country’s missiles and snoop on its radar system.”
More realistically, Paik pointed out that Beijing and Moscow are likely to stop financial and personal exchanges with Seoul in retaliation, if THAAD is actually deployed here.
“This will be a very serious problem as Seoul has maintained good cooperative relations with them in non-military areas,” he said.
Paik called on the government to explain the surrounding situation actively and clearly to the U.S. and issue its official opposition, rather than saying that it and the U.S. have never discussed the issue. “Who will believe that?” he said.
“Although South Korea is a small country, there are two things that it should never make a concession on to keep its national interest,” he said. “They are national security and economy. The THAAD issue involves both of these. This is why the nation needs to persuade the U.S. to withdraw its plan to place the defense shield here. It is right for the nation to disapprove of the deployment.”
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