Like I have been saying for months, official talks to deploy THAAD to Korea would probably happen once the ROK government had the political cover of a North Korean provocation which the latest rocket launch has given them:
Yoo Jeh-seung (R), deputy minister for policy at South Korea`s Defense Ministry, speaks during a joint press conference with Lt. Gen. Thomas Vandal, the commander of U.S. Forces Korea`s Eighth Army, at the defense ministry in Seoul on Feb. 7, 2016, after North Korea launched a long-range missile as part of the continual push of its intercontinental ballistic missile tests.
South Korea and the United States have agreed to begin negotiations for the deployment of an advanced American air defense system on South Korean soil, officials said Sunday, despite opposition from China and Russia.
The announcement on the controversial defense system, Terminal High Altitude Area Defense, was given just hours after North Korea launched a long-range missile as part of the continual push of its intercontinental ballistic missile tests.
“The U.S. and South Korea have decided to start official discussion on the possibility of U.S. Forces Korea’s deployment of THAAD as part of measures to upgrade the South Korea-U.S. alliance’s missile defense posture against North Korea’s advancing threats,” Yoo Jeh-seung, deputy minister for policy, said in a joint briefing with Lt. Gen. Thomas Vandal, the commander of USFK’s Eighth Army.
Vandal said the decision was made upon USFK Commander Gen. Curtis Scaparrotti’s recommendation, adding that “it is time to move forward on the issue.” [Yonhap]
If the North Koreans move forward their rocket test this would give Seoul additional political cover to move forward with the deployment of THAAD to Korea which the Chinese have been against. If seems that if the Chinese are so concerned about the deployment of THAAD they should do more to control their North Korean allies:
Deployment of the United States’ advanced missile defense system, the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense, in South Korea will be helpful in defending the country from North Korean threats, but the country has no plans to announce any decision on the matter in the near future, a defense official said Friday.
“Our government will consider every measure to prepare against North Korea’s missile threats,” the Defense Ministry spokesman Kim Min-seok said.
“If U.S. Forces Korea deploys THAAD, it will help our national security and defense,” Kim said.
The official government stance signals the U.S. move to deploy the THAAD system inside the USFK is gaining momentum in South Korea.
It also marks a step forward from the country’s more cautious stance in the past that South Korea will weigh the THAAD issue in accordance with national security interests.
Earlier in the day, the U.S.-based Wall Street Journal reported the U.S. could announce next week or so that the two countries are in negotiations over the THAAD system. [Yonhap]
This is a pretty typical play from the US playbook in response to North Korean military provocations:
The United States’ B-52 Stratofortress strategic bomber flew in the skies of South Korea on Sunday in a major show of force four days after North Korea conducted what it said was its first hydrogen bomb test.
The B-52 bomber left U.S. Andersen Air Force Base in Guam on Sunday morning and arrived in the skies above Osan, Gyeonggi Province, at noon, armed with nuclear missiles and “bunker buster” bombs that are capable of bombarding North Korea’s underground facilities, according to Seoul and Washington.
The bomber flew low past the Osan air base, flanked by an entourage of two South Korean F-15Ks and two U.S. F-16s before returning to its home base, the two sides’ militaries said. [Yonhap]
Below is the latest on the deployment of the THAAD missile defense system to South Korea. I have always said that it would take a major crisis for the ROK to have political cover to deploy this system on the peninsula. From the ROK perspective this strategy make sense because it gives them leverage with China to keep North Korea in line if they don’t want THAAD in South Korea:
Placement of a U.S. mobile missile defense system in South Korea remains unlikely in the near term despite continued concern about North Korea’s nuclear program, analysts and government officials say.
Top U.S. military officials want the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense system, or THAAD, ready to deploy in the Asia-Pacific region on a permanent basis — and its bases in South Korea are ideally where they need to be to counter a possible North Korean offensive.
Last year, Deputy Secretary of Defense Robert Work said the Pentagon had conducted site surveys for THAAD within South Korea. However, what makes sense from a military tactical standpoint doesn’t always correspond with how leaders view the strategic and diplomatic consequences.
When rumors spread in March of a deal to deploy THAAD to South Korea in an emergency, China decried the possibility as a threat to its security, with Russia voicing opposition as well.
That left South Korea uncomfortably positioned in a dispute pitting China and Russia on one side and the United States and Japan on the other, said Kim Hyun-wook, a professor at the Korea National Diplomatic Academy in Seoul.
The result was that despite discussions between President Barack Obama and South Korean President Park Geun-hye earlier this year, along with high-level ministerial talks between both nations, neither side has confirmed ever having had formal talks about THAAD. [Stars & Stripes]
Despite what Donald Trump has been saying about the US-ROK relationship, the vast majority of Americans have a very positive view of both the military and diplomatic relationship with South Korea:
More than eight in 10 Americans say relations with South Korea are important while American support for the use of U.S. armed forces to defend the Asian ally stands at an all-time high, an opinion poll showed Tuesday.
The Chicago Council on Global Affairs released the survey results ahead of South Korean President Park Geun-hye’s visit to Washington this week. Park is scheduled to hold talks with President Barack Obama at the White House on Friday.
“As President Park Geun-hye visits the United States, American opinion of South Korea is largely positive. Majorities say US-ROK relations are important and see South Korea as a reliable partner,” the council said in a statement. [Yonhap]
Here we go again with the usual rhetoric from North Korea during every Joint exercise:
Anchor: South Korea has made clear that suspending its joint military exercises with the U.S. cannot be a precondition for dialogue with Pyongyang. Seoul revealed the stance after North Korea said that if the United States wants to engage in dialogue it must stop taking part in the joint drills.
Our Bae Joo-yon has more.
Report: Seoul’s Defense Ministry said Thursday that ending South Korea-U.S. joint military exercises cannot be a precondition for dialogue between Washington and Pyongyang.
The ministry Spokesman Kim Min-seok told reporters that the joint drill is an annual event of a defensive nature.
Kim’s remarks came shortly after North Korea said the United States must stop its joint military exercises with South Korea if it wants to engage in dialogue with Pyongyang.
Kim said the joint exercises are necessary to prepare against the North’s provocations, adding that they are akin to a student preparing for a test.
Earlier on Wednesday, a spokesperson for the North’s Foreign Ministry said that if the U.S. abandons hostile activities, including the exercises, and chooses to walk a different path, then it would be possible to engage in dialogue and resolve many issues. [KBS World]
You can read more at the link, but basically the North Koreans are trying to put the blame on the US for why talks cannot be started.
The US Ambassador to Korea says that is premature to begin official talks in regards to deploying THAAD to Korea:
The top U.S. envoy to South Korea said it would be premature for Seoul and Washington to publicly discuss the possible deployment of a new U.S. anti-missile defense system in South Korea, an opposition party spokesman said Monday.
Ambassador Mark Lippert said that no formal negotiations took place between the two allies over the Terminal High-Altitude Area Defense battery, though internal discussions are under way in the U.S., said Kim Yung-rok, a spokesman for the main opposition New Politics Alliance for Democracy.
Lippert made the comment through an interpreter in a meeting with Moon Jae-in, head of the main opposition party at the party headquarters.
Lippert defended the missile-defense system, citing what he described as serious threats posed by North Korea’s missile and nuclear programs. [Yonhap]
The findings of bullying in the military is not surprising, but criticizing South Korea for limiting the political activity in the classrooms by their teachers? Does the State Department believe that South Korean teachers should have the right to teach pro-North Korean and anti-US propaganda to their students?:
An annual human rights report released on June 25 by the US State Department cited violence in the military and restrictions on political involvement by government employees and teachers as problem areas for South Korea. The department’s Human Rights Report for South Korea rated it as a country that generally respects human rights, but included the two new areas in addition to previous concerns about the National Security Law. “The primary human rights problems reported were government interpretation of the National Security Law, libel laws, and other laws to limit freedom of speech and expression and restrict access to the internet; the continued jailing of conscientious objectors to military service; and bullying and hazing [of new recruits] in the military,” the executive summary read. The mention of bullying and hazing in the military appears to be a reference to incidences such as the death of a private first class surnamed Yun in Apr. 2014.
“During the first half of the year, the Ministry of National Defense reported 37 suicides among military personnel, generally attributed to bullying, hazing, or inability to adjust to military life,” the report said. In regard to punishment in libel cases, the report mentioned the indictment of former New Politics Alliance for Democracy floor leader Park Jie-won after allegations that President Park Geun-hye used a “non-official system” to choose appointees. In terms of press freedoms, the report mentions the indictment of the Japanese newspaper Sankei Shimbun’s Seoul bureau chief for defamation over allegations about President Park’s whereabouts during the Apr. 2014 Sewol ferry sinking. While the State Department’s 2013 report had only mentioned restrictions on labor rights and interference with striking rights as problem areas, the latest report notes that “[r]estrictions on workers’ rights, including freedom of association and assembly and limitations on political engagement of public servants and teachers, were also problematic.” [Hankyoreh]
