South Korea Resumes US Forces THAAD Base Operation

A report revealed on June 16th, South Korean Ministry of National Defense formally organized a council to conduct environment impact assessment, in order to promote the US forces Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) base in Seongju, Gyeongsang-bukdo. The base that had been in temporary deployment status during Moon Jae-in administration.

In fact, the THAAD system was temporarily deployed at the Seongju Golf Course in April 2017, when North Korea’s nuclear missile threat was at its peak. At the time, the Park Geun-hye administration planned to complete the official deployment as soon as possible through a small-scale environmental impact assessment (six months), considering the urgency of dealing with the North Korean nuclear threat, but the Moon Jae-in administration, which came to power after the impeachment, changed the policy. Actually, during the Moon Jae-in administration, U.S. defense authorities repeatedly urged to normalize the base as soon as possible, but no progress was made.

Previously, the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) authority protested against South Korea that the radar detecting distance with THAAD system deployed by US forces in Seongju, Gyeongsang-bukdo would pose “threat” to its national security in 2017.

Anyhow, the THAAD base resumes operation after 5 years.