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'THAAD not designed against China,' says U.S. MD chief

Posted August. 12, 2016 07:25,   

Updated August. 12, 2016 07:37

한국어
Vice Adm. James D. Syring (pictured), director of the U.S. Missile Defense Agency, announced that the radar of the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) system, which will be deployed in South Korea next year, is not designed to target China. “The intent of THAAD is to intercept North Korean ballistic missiles,” he said during a joint interview with local journalists at the office of the ROK Joint Chiefs of Staff in Yongsan, Seoul on Thursday.

The U.S. vice admiral visited South Korea on Thursday to discuss the issue over the THAAD deployment with the South Korean authorities as the director for the Missile Defense Agency. He stressed that THAAD on the Korean Peninsula will not be part of the wider defense network designed to defense the U.S. mainland and that the system does not defense against (the ballistic missiles from) China. He also made it clear that the THAAD system to be deployed in Seongju County, North Gyeongsang Province next year will faithfully play the role of protecting South Korea from the threats of North Korea’s nuclear arsenal, adding that the THAAD radar in South Korea will be operated in a terminal mode (TM), which has a much shorter range compared to the forward-based mode (FBM).

However, China’s “South Korea-bashing” remains harsh over the THAAD deployment. Experts say that behind China’s adamant opposition to the deployment are three main purposes of preventing the establishment of a triangular MD alliance among South Korea, Japan, and the U.S., curbing the U.S. strategy of rebalancing to Asia, and testing the durability of the U.S.-S. Korea alliance.



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