South Korea’s Defense Ministry: Environmental Impact Assessment of THAAD Base Will be Released Soon

The Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) base has been a focus of South Korea’s defense ministry authorities’ efforts since last year, but the progress has not been made successfully, according to the news on July 23th. The ministry official said the authorities have been working hard on the THAAD base since last year, but it didn’t work out. Various efforts were being made to normalize it because it has to be operated.

The official said that they were trying to communicate with local residents and some procedures were on the way, so there was no roadmap. In case of emergency, the land supply and environmental impact assessment will be conducted as soon as possible to ensure normal operations. Concerning domestic development of long-range surface-to-air missiles and additional THAAD deployment, the official stated, “If the L-SAM II is developed early, there is no need for THAAD since it is not cheap. We’ll consider it.”

In order to normalize the THAAD base, US forces in South Korea have asked the South Korean government to allow free movement of manpower and equipment. The Moon Jae-in administration has postponed an environmental impact assessment, citing opposition from Seongju residents. Instead, the Yoon Seok-yeol administration intends to accept the demands of US forces in Korea.