Moon's top security adviser set for meeting with director of US Missile Defense Agency

President Moon Jae-in's top security adviser will meet with the head of the US Department of Defense's Missile Defense Agency this week, the presidential office Cheong Wa Dae said Sunday.

"Director of the Missile Defense Agency James Syring is scheduled to visit Cheong Wa Dae on Monday to meet with Chung Eui-yong, chief of the National Security Office," an official at the presidential residence said. Gen. Vincent K. Brooks, the chief commander of United States Forces Korea, will accompany Syring to the meeting, the official said.

"It's just a regular visit and they will not meet with President Moon," the official added.

Cheong Wa Dae played down the meeting, but it is expected to focus on negotiating thorny differences involving the deployment of the high-tech US defense system, Terminal High Altitude Area Defense, in South Korea ahead of a summit between Moon and President Donald Trump later this month.

Syring is in charge of the US missile defense including the operation of THAAD batteries and has commanded the Pentagon's first-ever exercise to intercept an intercontinental ballistic missile conducted last week.

As Moon has recently called into question the transparency and procedure of the on-going deployment, Syring is expected to illuminate the points.

The deployment issue is likely to dominate the Moon-Trump summit slated for late June after Moon won the presidency with a pledge to review the deployment agreed made under the previous Park Geun-hye administration. (Yonhap)