Opposition becoming flexible on THAAD

An elderly resident of Gimcheon, North Gyeongsang Province, participates in a rally in central Seoul, Wednesday, to call for the scrapping of a plan to deploy the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) battery near her hometown. / Yonhap

By Jun Ji-hye

Since the government made it official last week that a Lotte Group-owned golf course, instead of a missile base, will host an advanced U.S. anti-missile battery, the opposition parties, which have opposed the deployment, have remained relatively silent about the decision.

This attitude is in contrast to when the defense ministry announced in July that the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) battery will be deployed here by the end of next year.

At the time, opposition parties went all out to oppose the deployment, raising questions about the capability of the battery and its negative impact on Seoul-Beijing relations. They also cited strong protest from local residents who raised concerns about detrimental health and environmental effects from electromagnetic waves emitted by its AN/TPY-2 radar.

But the parties have yet to express their opposition about the deployment since the government changed the site from the Seongsan-ri base to the Lotte Skyhill Country Club. The government changed the site in response to protests from Seongju residents who claimed that the missile unit was too close to residential areas.

Some lawmakers who are still criticizing the deployment are raising the issue of the government’s poor handling and “hasty” decision, rather than the deployment itself.

Experts say the opposition parties are adopting strategic flexibility on the issue, apparently seeking an “exit strategy,” as they seem to be losing ground by opposing the deployment amid growing military tension on the Korean Peninsula following North Korea’s continuous missile launches and a nuclear test.

“The parties have probably decided that there is no political advantage in their continuous opposition to THAAD as it now seems almost impossible for the deployment decision to be retracted,” said Choi Chang-ryul, a professor of political science at Yongin University. “They are probably worried about the possibility that centrist voters could leave them amid growing threats from the North.”

Soon after the initial announcement in July, the second-largest opposition People’s Party opposed the THAAD deployment as the party’s official position. Then on August, 16 lawmakers, including its interim leader Rep. Park Jie-won, visited Seongju County to meet with angry residents there.

In the same month, six first-term lawmakers from the main opposition Minjoo Party of Korea (MPK) made a controversial visit to China for talks with Chinese officials and scholars over the deployment. They pushed ahead with the trip despite a warning from Cheong Wa Dae that the visit will only bolster Beijing’s stance on THAAD. China believes the missile interception system would escalate regional military tensions and undermine its security interests.

Some lawmakers from the MPK also visited Seongju County that month, during which they criticized the government decision to deploy THAAD.

Prof. Choi noted that now it would be hard for the opposition side to make such strong actions at this time when national security issues have become most important.

“What they could do now to hold the government in check might be to call on the defense ministry to seek National Assembly approval to acquire the Lotte Group-owned land,” he said.

Lotte Group possesses the 960,000 square-meter 18-hole golf course and the 820,000 square-meter forest adjacent to it. The ministry plans to purchase all of the land, and if the group agrees to sell it, the ministry is expected to pay about 100 billion won ($90 million).

Opposition lawmakers have pointed out that the use of the state budget is subject to approval by the Assembly.

Not to bring the issue up in the Assembly, the ministry is reportedly considering an exchange of land with the golf club giving it an equivalent area from military holdings.

Meanwhile, Rep. Son Kum-ju, spokesman for the People’s Party, denied that the party’s stance on THAAD has been changed, saying, “Relevant standing committees will deal with the issue.”