THAAD deployment will move forward despite scandal: Pentagon

By Jun Ji-hye

The U.S. Defense Department said Tuesday that the planned deployment of a U.S. advanced anti-missile system to South Korea will move forward regardless of President Park Geun-hye’s possible resignation or impeachment over the corruption scandal.

“Our Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) deployment continues,” said Pentagon press secretary Peter Cook at a briefing. “Those remain ongoing, and the alliance continues to move forward with that plan.”

The remark was a response to a question whether Park’s impeachment or resignation would affect the deployment.

While opposition parties are speeding up their efforts to pass a motion to impeach Park, possibly this week, over the high profile political scandal involving Park and her longtime friend Choi Soon-sil, the President said Tuesday that she will leave the decision on the timing and method of her resignation up to the National Assembly.

In July, Seoul and Washington announced a decision to deploy a THAAD battery here by next year to better deter evolving threats from North Korea’s nuclear and missile programs.

But since the scandal erupted in late October, which has considerably diluted Park’s power as a top decision maker, concerns have been raised that the deployment may be derailed.

The concerns come as opposition lawmakers have called into question the government’s bungled management of the decision-making process as well as its official announcement, which caused severe criticism from local residents living in the area selected as the location for THAAD.

Rep. An Min-suk of the main opposition Democratic Party of Korea has recently raised suspicions that Choi may have intervened in the government decision to allow the U.S. Forces Korea to deploy THAAD.

China has called for scrapping the decision, seeing THAAD, especially its powerful radar, as a threat to its nuclear deterrent and other security interests, despite repeated assurances from Washington that the system is designed only to defend against the North.