By Kim Hyo-jin
A U.S. Senator who recently met President Moon Jae-in in Seoul has expressed discontent about the ongoing dispute here over the deployment of a U.S. Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) unit.
Senate Minority Whip Dick Durbin said during a Senate Appropriations subcommittee hearing, Wednesday, that he “cannot understand” Seoul’s decision to suspend the deployment for an environmental impact assessment.
He stressed that the anti-missile system is aimed at protecting Koreans and the U.S. Forces Korea (USFK).
The senator had already relayed his concerns about the domestic controversy over the anti-missile system during his meeting with Moon in Seoul.
Durbin is the assistant Democratic leader and ranking member of the Senate Appropriations Committee for Defense, and his voice carries weight in allocating the U.S. defense budget.
His remarks indicate the THAAD issue could be a variable in Korea-U.S. relations ahead of a summit later this month.
Durbin reportedly said at the hearing that he was perplexed to see the deployment of the U.S. THAAD unit which would cost Washington $923 million (1.379 trillion won) being made into a political controversy here.
He added that if he lived in South Korea he would expect all possible missile defense systems to protect South Koreans and the USFK stationed there to defend them.
During the session, acting Secretary of the Army Robert Speer noted that the deployment of four additional THAAD launchers will be delayed, while Army Chief of Staff Gen. Mark Milley said the U.S. will “work through the issue.”
Milley echoed a view similar to Durbin’s, saying, “THAAD is essential to protect USFK, but also South Korea as a whole, and as U.S. forces are there in order to protect the entire country we’ll work through that.”
Cheong Wa Dae said Wednesday that the ongoing deployment of the THAAD unit will be suspended until a full-scale environmental impact study of the site is completed.
The study may put the brakes on the Ministry of National Defense and the USFK’s plan to fully deploy the unit by the end of the year.
Some analysts say the move intends to assure the U.S. that the government needs procedural justification and only this can quell any domestic backlash against the THAAD unit, and send a message to Beijing that Seoul is exerting full diplomatic efforts over the issue.
The THAAD battery, a countermeasure to North Korea’s missile threats, was deployed in March in the southeastern region of Seongju with two of its maximum load of six launchers.
Four additional launchers have also arrived for full deployment, but their arrival caused a controversy later, following the revelations that the defense ministry had intentionally omitted the presence of the additional launchers in a recent briefing to the presidential security office.
The government said it plans to conduct a full-scale environmental assessment while two launchers that have already been deployed at the site in Seongju remain in place.