Diplomatic and Defense Discord Over Additional THAAD Deployment

[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Yang Nak-gyu, Military Specialist Reporter] Lee Jong-seop, the nominee for Minister of National Defense, on the 4th defined North Korea's missile test launches as a "provocation" and stated, "We will strengthen deterrence against the North and respond firmly to North Korea's nuclear and missile threats."

At the confirmation hearing held by the National Assembly's National Defense Committee on the same day, when asked about his top priority after taking office, Lee responded by saying, "North Korea has carried out 13 missile provocations this year and held a large-scale military parade, heightening military tensions." The term "provocation" had rarely been used during the Moon Jae-in administration, but Lee used this term at his first official appearance.

Lee also expressed his intention to significantly resume South Korea-U.S. joint military exercises starting this year. He mentioned, "At the level of the South Korea-U.S. alliance, we plan to practically activate the Extended Deterrence Strategy and Consultation Group (EDSCG) and strengthen regular exercises involving the deployment of U.S. strategic assets."

Our military has conducted the South Korea-U.S. joint Key Resolve and Foal Eagle exercises annually in March-April, the South Korean solo Taeguk exercise in June, the South Korea-U.S. joint Ulchi Freedom Guardian (UFG) in August, and the South Korean solo live-fire defense exercises in November, preparing for a full-scale war on the Korean Peninsula. However, all these exercises were canceled in 2019.

Regarding the additional deployment of the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) system, a campaign pledge of President-elect Yoon Suk-yeol, Lee stated, "We will review focusing on cost-effectiveness and the possible timing of operational deployment." He emphasized, "To effectively respond to North Korea's missile threats, it is necessary to establish a multilayered missile defense system in the Seoul metropolitan area." In his written response submitted earlier to the National Assembly, he also mentioned, "We will review cost and possible deployment timing for early development plans of THAAD or L-SAM (Long-range Surface-to-Air Guided Weapon) II."

However, the Presidential Transition Committee did not directly mention THAAD in the national agenda announced the day before. While presenting "a revolutionary enhancement of capabilities to respond to North Korea's nuclear and missile threats" as a task, it specified the three-axis system including the Kill Chain as concrete measures. The three-axis system refers to plans to dramatically strengthen our military's deterrence and response capabilities against North Korea, including the Kill Chain, multilayered missile defense systems, and overwhelming massive retaliation capabilities.

The Transition Committee explained the multilayered missile defense system as "a multilayered defense concept and system development for timely response to North Korean missile threats, and the promotion of technologically advanced weapon development." It added, "We will integrate the Korean-style missile defense system through early operational deployment of the long-range artillery interception system (Korean Iron Dome)."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.