THAAD talks ongoing, no decision made on announcing discussion results: defense ministry

South Korea and the United States' negotiations on the deployment of an advanced American defense shield in the Northeast Asian country are still on-going, with the allies remaining undecided over when to announce the results of the talks, the defense ministry's spokesman said Monday.

"The THAAD deployment is being discussed by (the allies') joint working group, and based on the results of their discussion, a final decision will be made at the South Korea-U.S.-alliance level," Moon Sang-gyun, spokesman at the Ministry of National Defense, said in a regular briefing.

"As with the date of the announcement, nothing has been decided," he said.

The comments came amid rising speculations that the allies may soon announce their decision to deploy the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense system, including where it will be placed in the South.

Shortly after North Korea conducted its nuclear test and long-range missile launch earlier this year, Seoul and Washington launched official talks to deploy the anti-ballistic missile system to better guard against advances made by North Korea's missile threats.

A week earlier, Defense Minister Han Min-koo told the National Assembly's defense committee that the results from the South Korea-U.S.' discussions are expected sometime within this year. 

Some media outlets predicted the allies' defense chiefs may use the venue of their annual Security Consultation Meeting, set for October in Washington this year, to unveil the results of the negotiations. (Yonhap)