Seoul’s defense officials on Friday denied news reports that South Korea and the United States would make an announcement on their plans to deploy advanced U.S. missile defense assets here ahead of their defense ministerial talks in Singapore.
Defense Minister Han Min-koo is scheduled to have a bilateral meeting with his U.S. counterpart Ash Carter on Saturday on the sidelines of the Asia Security Summit in Singapore.
En route to the Southeast Asian country, Carter said that a stationing of the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense system would be discussed during the talks, saying North Korea’s recent missile tests of the Musudan mid-range ballistic missiles showed the need for improved missile defenses despite their failures.
“The implementation will be a series of decisions that we take together and it’s for our own protection against North Korea. Everybody should understand that,” the defense secretary told reporters, according to Reuters.
Another senior U.S. defense official said, “We will have a public announcement soon,” though there were still “a lot of technical issues to get through.”
But Seoul’s Defense Ministry said it does not have any plans to confer on THAAD, saying the issue is being dealt with by a joint working group and it would announce its results when the consultations are complete.
During a meeting with reporters in Singapore, Han said the sides are “on the same page,” noting that the stationing will be announced after both governments approve a recommendation prepared by the working group.
“I believe the secretary meant customary conditions in which the allies would naturally consult on the issue as part of the bilateral agenda. But there’s not much to come up (with) at this time soon, as the working group continues to work on that,” ministry spokesperson Moon Sang-gyun said at a regular news briefing.
While THAAD may be a sure item to be included in the minister’s agenda, the slightly different messages appear to target Beijing, which stringently opposes the deployment plan which it sees as directed at China.
A separate news report suggested that the allies would unveil a deployment plan at their annual Security Consultative Meeting in October.
The Shangri-La Dialogue comes at a sensitive time, shortly after Chinese President Xi Jinping met with former North Korean Foreign Minister and senior party official Ri Su-yong.
Washington, for its part, proposed designating North Korea as a “primary money laundering concern,” which would restrict the financial activities of foreign banks that have ties with the communist state, chiefly those from China.
“As the U.S. and China are slated to hold their strategic and economic dialogue next week, Carter’s remarks could rather bear a message to Beijing, rather than indicating substantial progress on THAAD,” a senior Seoul official said, requesting anonymity.
“The THAAD consultations with the U.S. would inevitably take more time, given the necessary deliberations on the location and other related issues.”
By Shin Hyon-hee (
heeshin@heraldcorp.com)
