Global Network against Weapons and Nuclear Power in Space 23rd Annual Conference 

July 29 - Aug 2, 2015 Kyoto, Japan

THAAD Deployment in South Korea and Its Impact on Northeast Asia[1]

KO YOUNG DAE/SPARK

2015. 7. 30

While the Obama administration and the U.S. military are applying intense pressure on the South Korean government, politicians, the military, etc., demanding the deployment of the THAAD system in South Korea, the South Korean Defense Ministry is reportedly in the process of reviewing the matter prior to U.S.-South Korea working-level talks.

In addition, the commander of the U.S. Strategic Command recently visited South Korea. As he is the highest-ranking U.S. commanding officer in relation to the THAAD system, it is assumed that his visit was about fine-tuning remaining issues in relation to THAAD deployment, as well as the integration and command and control of the U.S.-South Korean missile defense (MD) system.

THAAD deployment in Korea will bring about not only changes in South Korea’s MD system, but also a fundamental transformation of the U.S.- and Japanese-led MD system in Northeast Asia and cause a tsunami-like wave of change, with detrimental impacts on the overall state of affairs on the Korean peninsula as well as in Northeast Asia as a whole.

I would like to introduce the debate within South Korea regarding the current status of the South Korean MD system construction and THAAD deployment, and briefly discuss the connection between THAAD deployment and the U.S.-Japan-South Korea trilateral MD system, as well as its impact on the political state of affairs on the Korean peninsula and in Northeast Asia. In particular, I will point out how this debate relates to the exercise of collective self-defense by the Japanese Self-Defense Forces (JSDF) and to the revision of the Guidelines for U.S.-Japan Defense Cooperation....read more please, the attached file.