By Jun Ji-hye
The United States has been publicly mentioning its goal to set up a Washington-led global missile defense system (MD) in South Korea and other allies in the Asia-Pacific region despite Seoul’s repeated denial of it joining such a program.
The U.S. attempt to bring the MD plan to the fore is escalating controversy timed with U.S. President Donald Trump’s recent call for Seoul to pay for the deployment of a U.S. Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) battery here, which he estimated at about $1 billion.
If South Korea decided to join the U.S. MD, the nation would need to purchase, operate and manage more of Washington’s advanced weapons such as antiaircraft missiles, which will require Seoul to spend further astronomical amounts of money.
Critics say Seoul has already spent a great deal of money ― it has used 36 trillion won ($31 billion) to buy U.S. weapons since 2006, according to the Defense Agency for Technology and Quality.
Those who have been talking about the MD plan have been mostly military leaders including Pacific Command (PACOM) Commander Adm. Harry Harris, but high-ranking officials of the Trump administration are also expected to follow their lead soon to set up the global missile defense program in the Asia-Pacific region.
“PACOM will continue working with Japan, the Republic of Korea and Australia to improve our level of staff coordination and information sharing and the goal of creating a fully-integrated Ballistic Missile Defense architecture that must also address the increasing cruise missile threat,” said Adm. Harris during a Senate Armed Services Committee hearing last week.
Since the government announced its decision last July to host the THAAD unit in Seongju, North Gyeongsang Province, suspicions have been raised that Seoul has virtually joined Washington’s MD system ― THAAD is an integral part of MD, designed to shoot down enemy ballistic missiles at the end-stage of their flights.
Whenever such suspicions emerged, the Ministry of National Defense has repeatedly said THAAD is a weapons system to defend the Korean Peninsula against North Korean threats and that it will not share any information with other U.S. MD elements. The ministry added Seoul has the goal to establish its own Korea air and missile defense (KAMD) system and has been working on it.
But not many critics seemed to believe such an explanation.
Justice Party lawmaker Kim Jong-dae, a former defense analyst, cited reports, made in May 2015 by the U.S. Government Accounting Office, which stated that Washington is working on increasing integration between THAAD and other ballistic missile defense systems.
The U.S. Department of Defense Fiscal Year 2017 President’s Budget Submission, published in February 2016, also said THAAD’s new capabilities include regional peer-to-peer engagement coordination with Aegis and Patriot systems, with upgrades to maintain interfaces with other MD elements.
More notably, former U.S. Forces Korea (USFK) commander Gen. Curtis M. Scaparrotti, who is the commander of NATO troops in Europe now, told a Senate hearing in July 2013, when he was a nominee for the USFK commander, that the installment of THAAD and its AN/TPY-2 X-Band radar on the peninsula was part of a plan to set up the U.S. MD along with the deployment and upgrades of the Patriot systems.
“Data regarding ballistic missile threats, obtained by THAAD radar, will eventually be provided to the U.S. mainland,” Rep. Kim said, noting that deploying the THAAD unit will result in Seoul’s participation in the U.S.-led MD.
During a meeting of military officials from China and Russia, which took place last week in Moscow, the two countries also criticized the THAAD deployment, saying the system is a strategic weapon for the U.S. and is an attempt to get its Asian ally to join the MD system to contain their influence in the region.
Defense ministry spokesman Moon Sang-gyun once again stuck to the existing position, Tuesday, saying, “South Korea and the deployment of THAAD are unrelated to the nation’s participation in MD.”
Observers say the growing possibility of the ROK Navy introducing ship-based Standard Missile-3 (SM-3) interceptors will also intensify speculation of Seoul’s participation in MD, adding that if the U.S. administration raised pressure on Seoul in earnest, it would be hard to reject the demand forever.