Lippert attack puts focus on THAAD

THAAD is U.S. advanced missile interceptor.

By Kang Seung-woo

Rival parties are engaged in a war over a possible deployment of the U.S. advanced missile interceptor, or THAAD, on Korean soil.

The Terminal High Altitude Area Defense system is widely regarded as the core of the U.S. ballistic missile defense system. China alleges that any deployment in Korea would be targeting it.

Amid growing concerns over the ROK-U.S. alliance in the wake of an attack on U.S. Ambassador to Korea Mark Lippert last week, the ruling Saenuri Party first touched on the hot-button issue in support of deployment.

Washington has urged Seoul to join its ballistic missile defense system, but the latter has resisted the call due to the strong opposition from China, Korea's No. 1 trading partner.

"Personally, I spoke up for the need to deploy THAAD at last year's Assembly interpellation session, but now as the floor leader, I have a responsibility to collect opinions on the issue within the party," Rep. Yoo Seong-min said during a party meeting, Monday.

Yoo chaired the National Assembly National Defense Committee from July 2012 to May 2014.

"At the party's general meeting, scheduled for late March, I will try to decide on an official party platform after discussions," he said.

"The deployment of THAAD is a matter of the nation's survival regarding how to defend itself from North Korean nuclear strikes," he added.

"The opposition party appears to defend the North's position in terms of THAAD, but we will just discuss the issue from the point of view of national security."

Yoo's remarks came one day after his party members promoted the U.S. missile defense system in Korea.

Rep. Won Yoo-chul, the party's chief policymaker, told reporters Sunday that he is in favor of bringing THAAD to Korea because the primary goal of the move by the U.S. is to protect its troops here and their families.

Rep. Na Kyung-won, who heads the Foreign Affairs and Unification Committee, said in a radio interview on the same day that she sees a "high necessity" for the deployment, calling for the government to convince China, if necessary.

Gen. Curtis Scaparrotti, commander of the U.S. Forces Korea, said last June that he had recommended the THAAD deployment to the U.S. government amid the North efforts to modernize its weapons. Washington reportedly completed a site inspection early last year, as well.

However, China strongly opposes because it believes that the X-Band radar, the core of THAAD, could be used to spy on its missiles that form the backbone of its military strike capabilities.

Amid the intensifying calls for THAAD within the ruling side, the main opposition New Politics Alliance for Democracy (NPAD) renewed its opposition to any possible deployment.

"The Saenuri Party is trying to link the attack on the ambassador to enhancing the ROK-U.S. alliance by deploying THAAD here, but it is an overreaction," said Rep. Ahn Gyu-baek during a party meeting, Tuesday.

Following the violence by a leftist activist, the government has made all-out efforts to prevent the incident from damaging the 62-year-old alliance, capped by President Park Geun-hye's Monday visit to Lippert shortly after she returned home from a trip to four Middle Eastern nations.

Ahn also said that THAAD should not be deployed, citing the defense ministry's plan to develop its own missile shield, named the Korea Air and Missile Defense system.

Rep. Baek Kun-ki said: "It is not appropriate for politicians to politicize THAAD, given that the defense ministry says it has no plan to buy the system."

Separately, a U.S. news outlet website claimed Monday that China had suggested a barter deal under which Korea will be given economic incentives, should it reject THAAD.

"President Xi Jinping of China directly appealed to President Park Geun-hye not to allow U.S. military forces to go ahead with plans to deploy THAAD," the Washington Free Beacon reported, citing current and former U.S. officials.

"As leverage, the hard line Chinese leader is offering Seoul increased trade and business if THAAD deployment is scuttled."

Last July, the Chinese President visited Korea and held a summit with Park.

The report also said that China wants to use Korea to weaken the three-way collective defenses between Tokyo, Washington and Seoul in a bid for Beijing to gradually replace the U.S. as the most significant power in the Asia-Pacific region.

China's strategy "includes stoking anti-Japan sentiment with propaganda about Tokyo's colonial and wartime past."

"Unfortunately, the South Korean leadership seems to have easily fallen for Beijing's calculations," an official was quoted as saying.

Although President Park and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe took office more than two years ago, they have yet to hold a face-to-face summit, which has frustrated Washington's "pivot to Asia" strategy.

In response to the report, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said that it is groundless.

"The main contents of the summit was already released by the ministry. Given that Seoul and Beijing have maintained a very good relationship, it is sensible to think that the two leaders might not have talked about such an offer at the summit," ministry spokesman Noh Kwang-il said in a briefing.