South Korea moves to improve US-made THAAD system despite domestic opposition

South Korea has formed a committee to assess the environmental impact of the system and aims to conclude the evaluation in the first half of 2023
County residents and activists have staged daily sit-ins to block access to the construction site

South Korea

Park Chan-kyongin Seoul

Published: 8:30am, 1 Sep 2022

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South Korea has moved to strengthen its US missile defence base despite facing domestic protests and opposition by China, with the issue shaping up to be a test for Yoon Suk-yeol’s administration on how far it will back Washington in countering Beijing, analysts say.

Seoul and Washington contend the THAAD (Terminal High Altitude Area Defense) system is meant to protect South Korea against threats from the North, but China sees it as a direct threat to its security.

Officials earlier this month formed a consultative committee – consisting of government officials, experts and a representative from residents – to assess the environmental impact of the THAAD system in the southeastern county of Seongju, Defence Minister Lee Jong-sup told the National Assembly on Monday.

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Construction at the 700,000-square-metre site can start only after the environmental impact survey is completed. While such assessments typically take more than a year, officials aim to complete the exercise in the first half of 2023.

Activists and county residents have decried the decision, calling it an anti-China move and criticising the government of acting without “due legal process”.

“The government is rushing the environment impact survey without due legal processes behind closed doors. THAAD is not for the defence of South Korea but it’s aimed at China,” said leading activist Kang Hyun-wook.

An umbrella group of protesters against THAAD has said that it would resort to all means possible to prevent the construction.

Since May 2021, Seongju county residents and protesters have been staging sit-ins from dawn till evening, to physically block vehicles carrying supplies and construction materials to the site, often forcing hundreds of riot police to clear them off the road.

Kim Joon-hyung, former head of the Korea National Diplomatic Academy, said Washington considered the THAAD issue to be the first test for the Yoon government in showing its willingness to join US efforts to build an anti-China alliance.

“THAAD marks the start of the US missile defence network in the region. The US wants to confirm whether the Yoon government can overcome resistance from residents and protests from China to deploy THAAD and more of it,” Kim said.

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“It remains unclear whether THAAD is something urgently required for the defence of either the US or the South but the key issue here for the US is to push the South to join a US-Japan-South Korea tripartite military alliance,” he said.

South Korea currently hosts a THAAD battery, which reportedly has four truck-mounted launchers with eight interceptor missiles each in Soseong-ri, a farming village in Seongju County.

Since its deployment in September 2017, the THAAD battery has been ready to detect and intercept the North’s ballistic missiles.

China has urged conservative President Yoon Suk-yeol’s government to uphold former president Moon Jae-in’s policy of “Three Nos”: no additional THAAD deployment, no participation in a US-led missile defence network, and no involvement in a trilateral military alliance with the US and Japan.

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THAAD topped the agenda when South Korean Foreign Minister Park Jin met his Chinese counterpart Wang Yi earlier this month, during which they agreed the thorny issue should not be a “stumbling block” to bilateral ties.

Returning to Seoul following his three-day trip to Qingdao city, however, Park said he had made clear in talks with Wang that it was “neither an agreement nor a promise” made to Beijing.

He also suggested Moon’s “three-no” principle was not binding for the Yoon administration, which seeks to bolster South Korea’s alliance with the US.

Woo Sang-ho, then-interim head of the opposition Democratic Party, criticised the Yoon government for “stirring up a hornet’s nest”.

A THAAD interceptor is seen in Seongju, South Korea. Photo: Reuters

He asserted that the Moon government had handled the prickly issue calmly in light of ongoing US-China confrontations and fierce protests by residents in Seongju County.

Former conservative president Park Geun-hye, who was in 2017 impeached for corruption but pardoned this year, had approved the deployment of THAAD during her tenure despite opposition from China and local residents.

But the liberal Moon Jae-in administration, which succeeded her, did not proceed with the construction of the base.

Yoon has vowed to mend ties with Japan as bilateral relations between the two neighbours have long been dogged by history-related issues and territorial disputes.