How Park Geun-hye’s impeachment can heal Seoul’s rift with Beijing
South Korean president’s likely successor, Moon Jae-in, has signalled a willingness to ‘rethink’ deployment of THAAD, the US missile shield that has angered China. But is this just political manoeuvring?
The impeachment of South Korea’s President Park Geun-hye may have dragged the country into political chaos, but it may also help to heal a diplomatic rift with Beijing over the planned deployment of a US missile shield.
Analysts say recent overtures from Korean opposition parties’ over the Terminal High Altitude Area Defence (THAAD) system – which could delay, if not prevent, its deployment – are being viewed positively by Beijing.
South Korean opposition lawmakers to visit China over THAAD
Eight lawmakers from the main opposition Democratic Party of Korea (DPK) landed in China this week to meet China’s foreign minister, Wang Yi ( 王毅 ), and other top officials to convey their belief that the decision to deploy THAAD should be left to the next president.
Their visit, which came even as the South Korean defence minister, Han Min-koo, reiterated Seoul’s commitment to THAAD, has fuelled speculation that the deployment of the system is not yet a done deal. The DPK’s Moon Jae-in, who is the favourite in this year’s presidential election, has already suggested rethinking the deployment.
China is concerned that even thought a THAAD system on South Korean soil would not be able to intercept Chinese missiles, its X-band radar surveillance system would be able to monitor missile tests on its northern and eastern coasts.
The US claims that in South Korea the system’s radars would have a detection range of 600km – far enough to monitor launches from North Korea, but not from China. However, the radars can be configured to have a detection range of 2,000km, putting Chinese launches well within its surveillance arc.