Secretary of the Army Eric Fanning was in Korea and told the ROK media that along with the deployment of the THAAD battery the US is also looking to upgrade its remaining Patriot PAC-2 batteries to the more advanced PAC-3 configuration:
The United States will focus on upgrading the Patriot PAC-2 missile systems in South Korea to the more advanced PAC-3 anti-missile shield to better protect the Seoul metropolitan areas by 2018, the U.S. Army’s senior civilian official said Tuesday.
“Right now, we are focusing on upgrading the Patriot system that we have here in Korea,” United States Secretary of the Army Eric Fanning told Yonhap News Agency in a group interview held in the Osan Air Base in Pyeongtaek, 70 kilometers south of Seoul.
He didn’t specifically confirm local reports that Seoul and Washington are planning to replace the PAC-2 system currently in the country with the more lethal PAC-3 system by the end of 2018, although he hinted that such a move is likely.
“I have seen the potential for the upgrades,” the 47-year-old official said during the interview while he visited the 35th Air Defense Artillery Brigade at the air base, adding that the change to a PAC-3 from PAC-2 will allow forces in the country to better cope with evolving nuclear and missile threats from North Korea. [Yonhap]
Here is what he had to say about the health effects of the THAAD radar:
Asked about local concerns of health risks that might be caused by the powerful radar used in the anti-missile defense system, he pointed out that examination of electromagnetic waves from the operational THAAD battery in Guam showed clearly it poses no problems. The U.S. allowed a group of Korean reporters to visit the U.S. territory and check the level of electromagnetic waves emanating from the AN/TPY-2 radar.
Despite the test results, residents in Seongju, 296 kilometers south of Seoul, have asked the deployment plan to be scrapped, saying that they cannot trust the results. Seoul had tapped the rural town as the site for South Korea’s first THAAD battery last month, with the interceptor system to be operational by 2017.
A ROK Drop favorite Bruce Klingner has an article published which provides his response to critics of the deployment of the THAAD missile defense system to South Korea:
South Korea critics claim fears of radiation risks from the missile shield’s radar, saying it would kill bees and irradiate melons. The U.S. invited South Korean media to the missile shield’s deployment site on Guam for independent tests. Measured levels of the electromagnetic waves emanating from the radar revealed the system operates at an intensity far safer than required by Korean law, i.e. the radar emitted only 0.007 percent of the 10 watts per square meter allowed under Korean standards. Rep. Madeleine Bordallo, D-Guam, told South Korean reporters that there have been no signs of environmental impact nor any noise complaints from the defense system’s deployment on the island.
Critics fail to understand that North Korea will continue to develop nuclear-tipped missiles regardless of whether the advanced defense system is deployed or not. If THAAD were to intercept even one North Korean nuclear missile, it would save hundreds of thousands of South Korean and U.S. lives. [The Daily Signal]
You can read more at the link, but Mr. Klingner is absolutely correct that North Korea is going to continue to develop their nuclear and missile programs regardless of what happens with the THAAD issue.
Here is the latest on the THAAD protesting front. Only getting 2,000 protesters in Seoul to include people that were bused in from Seongju is not very impressive. This is not a good sign for the Korean left if they think the anti-THAAD issue is something that can evolve into another 2008 US beef crisis:
About 2,000 people rallied outside the main train station in Seoul, South Korea, Thursday, July 21, 2016. Wearing yellow capes and waving banners that said “No THAAD,” they called on the government to reverse its decision to deploy the Terminal High-Altitude Area Defense system in Seongju. KIM GAMEL/STARS AND STRIPES
Protesters, especially residents of the farming region of Seongju, fear the system’s powerful radar will be harmful to their health as well as the environment and the economy despite insistence by U.S. and South Korean officials that it is safe. Many also accuse the government of a lack of transparency in making the decision.
About 2,000 people, including many bused in from Seongju, rallied outside the main train station in the capital, Seoul, on Thursday. Wearing yellow capes and waving banners that said “No THAAD,” they called on the government to reverse its decision. Many protesters refused to talk to the media.
A small group of THAAD supporters gathered nearby. “This is very important for the national security,” said Jaechul Ahn, chairman of the World Peace Freedom United group. “We should know that North Korea never changes their goal of the colonization of the whole peninsula.” [Stars & Stripes]
Why isn’t the Korean left busy protesting this radar and claiming it will make people sick and cause crop failures?:
A U.S. Patriot missile battery in Japan has been brought to South Korea for a joint exercise amid growing concerns about additional provocations from North Korea, an official of the U.S. Forces Korea (USFK) said, Friday.
The Patriot Advanced Capability (PAC)-3 interceptor unit of the U.S. Forces Japan (USFJ), stationed at the Kadena Air Base in Okinawa, arrived in Busan on July 13 and is now participating in a drill with South Korean military in Gunsan, North Jeolla Province.
The Patriot unit is made up of 120 troops, with a launch vehicle and radar.
It is the first time a Japan-based U.S. Patriot battery has been sent to South Korea.
“The PAC-3 unit is currently training with South Korean troops,” the USFK official told reporters. “The unit will return to Japan after completing the training scheduled to last two weeks.” [Korea Times]
The US and ROK militaries have a number of Patriot sites in South Korea and the Korean left does not protest them because there is no political advantage in doing so like there is with the planned deployment of the THAAD battery to Korea. The Patriots have been South Korea for decades and no one is getting sick or having their crops fail. The same will eventually be true with the THAAD battery as well.
Everything Congresswoman Bordallo is saying is true, but it will not matter to the anti-US leftist protesters spreading the misinformation in South Korea that the THAAD radar causes cancer, miscarriages and ruins crops:
In this photo, taken in Guam on July 19, 2016, U.S. Congresswoman Madeleine Bordallo talks with South Korean reporters about the THAAD system on the island. (Yonhap)
The Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) system will pose no environmental problems whatsoever if it is set up away from heavily-populated areas as in Guam, a U.S. Congresswoman representing the Pacific island territory told South Korean media.
Congresswoman Madeleine Z. Bordallo (D-Guam) made the remarks in a meeting with South Korea’s Defense Ministry Joint Press Corps on Tuesday following their tour of an operational THAAD battery a day earlier.
The reporters were on the island to check how an actual THAAD battery is run and if it poses a health risk to people nearby and the environment.
She said there has never been a complaint raised about noise related to the THAAD system since it was brought onto the island in 2013. She said that as long as the battery is placed in an “isolated” area and not in the middle of a town there should be no problems.
The lawmaker also made clear that since the battery’s deployment, there has been no signs that it has impacted the environment around it, and that the presence of THAAD has not hurt the island’s tourism trade. [Yonhap]
In regards to the political opposition to the THAAD deployment to South Korea facts do not matter. We saw this before with the US beef protests. For those that do care about facts, the US military yesterday opened its THAAD base on Guam to reporters and test the electromagnetic waves from the radar. Here is what they found:
This photo, taken on July 18, 2016, and provided by the U.S. Air Force, shows officials measuring the level of electromagnetic waves from the radar of a THAAD battery in Guam, with South Korean reporters watching and taking notes. (Yonhap)
The United States disclosed its advanced anti-ballistic missile battery in Guam to South Korean media on Monday to help allay fears about the health risks linked to the system’s powerful X-band radar.
A pool of Korean reporters visited the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) battery in northern Guam, a part of Andersen Air Force Base, so they could check for themselves the major issues related to the electromagnetic waves emanating from the AN/TPY-2 radar and the noise level of the emergency generators.
Using equipment brought from Seoul, military officials of both the U.S. and Korea measured the levels of electromagnetic waves from the THAAD radar for the first six minutes at a point 1.6 kilometers away from the THAAD unit after it was activated. The measurement conditions in Guam were set similarly to those in Seongju, the selected site for South Korea’s first THAAD.
The radar waves reached a maximum of 0.0007 watt per square meter, accounting for 0.007 percent of the 10 watts per square meter maximum permitted under Korean laws.
Robert F. Hedelund, commander of U.S. Marine Corps Forces Korea, told reporters that the THAAD battery does not hurt the health and safety of the unit’s operators, soldiers or residents nearby and that the safety standards that apply to the Guam THAAD unit are higher than those recommended by the U.S. government. He said the Guam base’s safety standards will be applied to Korea’s THAAD battery.
Another U.S. military official on the U.S. Pacific territory said that as the U.S. has a duty to protect its own soldiers and residents in adjacent towns, every effort will be made to make sure the THAAD battery to be set up in Korea will be operated safely.
As for the noise level of generators near the THAAD radar, soldiers working at the site do have to wear earplugs, but the noise is no longer an issue at about 500 meters away, the commander explained.
The U.S. military said as Korea’s THAAD system will get its power mainly from the commercial grid, not from emergency generators, soldiers and residents will not be affected by the noise. [Yonhap]
You can read more at the link, but like I said facts don’t matter to the political opposition so expect to continue to hear about the health and environmental risks of THAAD in South Korea. However, this visit at least allows supporters of the deployment to have hard evidence to point to in order to counter claims from the political opposition.
With the environmental concerns floundering this how the Korea Times decided to approach the THAAD visit by insinuating that the system doesn’t work:
South Korean journalists and military officials hear explanations from a U.S. officer about the THAAD system during their visit to “Site Armadillo,” the location of a THAAD battery inside Andersen Air Force Base on Guam, Monday. / Courtesy of U.S. Air Force
When the two allies announced the deployment of the advanced anti-missile defense system in Korea, July 8, they stressed that the deployment will greatly enhance Seoul’s ability to deal with North Korea’s evolving nuclear and ballistic missile threats. But some experts still question the capability of the system.
Lockheed Martin, the producer of THAAD, said that the battery was nearly 100 percent successful in interception tests, but critics claim that such tests took place under defined conditions, and that THAAD has been never utilized in practice.
In addition, skepticism over the system has been also raised as Seoul and its surrounding area, with a population of roughly 25 million and major facilities, are out of its coverage range. The missile interceptor has an effective range of 200 kilometers, while Seongju is located 290 kilometers southeast of Seoul. [Korea Times]
Of course tests are under defined conditions which get increasingly more complicated. The last flight test for THAAD featured it conducting a joint live fire with the Aegis SM-3 system and was successful in shooting down all targets. As far as being used in combat this is an impossible argument to counter because the system is new and there has not been a need to use it in combat. As far as defending Seoul there are already Patriot systems in Korea that can defend Seoul. The THAAD has always been intended to defend areas in the southern region of the peninsula.
In the coming weeks it should be interesting to see if the opposition to THAAD tries to change their message to focus more on the China and the THAAD doesn’t work angles to justify their opposition.
The Korean government has realized that the only card the protesters of the deployment of the THAAD missile defense system have to play is that the electromagnetic waves from the radar will harm people. This is a well used tactic by leftists protesters and their media allies which worked brilliantly for them in 2008 when they passed off lies about US beef that nearly toppled then President Lee Myung-Bak:
The U.S. military will open its Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) base in Guam to the South Korean media next week in an effort to dispel concerns here over deployment of the anti-missile system, according to military sources, Wednesday.
“The U.S. Army will open its THAAD facilities in Guam to South Korean journalists from July 17 to 19,” a military official said. “It will help them understand how the battery is operated and address any concerns about safety issues.”
It is the first time the U.S. Army has allowed foreign media access to the THAAD facilities, according to the official.
The South Korean military said journalists from seven outlets, including Hankyoreh and the Chosun Ilbo, will visit the base.
The move is seen as an attempt to quell controversy in South Korea over a THAAD deployment and ease public concerns over potentially harmful electromagnetic waves from the X-band radar that comes with the system. [Korea Times]
Here is the part of the article that I have been saying for months, the ROK already has air defense radars deployed around the country and no one protested them:
“Questions over harmful effects of electromagnetic waves emitted from THAAD’s X-band radar have been raised,” a defense ministry official said. “But they are no stronger than patriot or green pine radar. We are hoping to ease safety concerns surrounding the THAAD system.”
That is what editorial writer Oh Young-jin for the Korea Times thinks:
The ongoing controversy over the terminal high-altitude area defense (THAAD), the U.S.-made missile defense system, has similarities with the mad cow crisis.
The THAAD case could be as explosive in its consequences as the U.S. beef case. Already, the citizens of the areas that are reported to be on the shortlist of candidates are up in arms, some organizing committees and others pressuring their political representatives. It is the exhibition of the selfish “not-in-my-backyard” mentality. But they can’t be blamed for not wanting to be targeted by the first wave of North Korean attacks that concentrate on strategic military assets such as THAAD or the expected losses in their property values.
Making their protests as political as the mad cow protests is the fact that the country is about to enter an election cycle ahead of the December 2017 presidential poll. Buffeted in not-so-small measures by the THAAD brouhaha, President Park Geun-hye saw her approval ratings fall dramatically. Especially noteworthy is the record low of popular support in her regional power centers in North Gyeongsang Province and Daegu. Chilgok and Waegwan, both in North Gyeongsang Province, are reportedly included on the shortlist.
Even if the THAAD controversy doesn’t lead to the massive protests that the U.S. beef incident did, a strong impact could be felt at the ballot boxes. Already, lawmakers from Park’s governing Saenuri Party are agitated, with some making clear their opposition to the THAAD development. Certainly in their calculus are more minuses than pluses for the chances of their party’s standard bearer to win the December 2017 election. [Korea Times]
You can read more at the link, but what Oh Young-jin misses is that despite the protests created by the lies about US beef pushed by leftist groups and their media allies South Korean conservatives still won the next election. This largely because the lies were exposed for what they were. The protests against THAAD are the same thing people pushing lies. Just like other radars, the THAAD system has a safe keep out zone that the military will position so that it will not harm anyone. The ROK military currently has Patriot and Green Pine radars positioned around the country and we saw no protests about those because there was no political incentive to lie about the safety of those radars like we are seeing with THAAD.
