South Korean protesters on Monday expressed strong demand for the pullout of the U.S. Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) missile defense system from their home country ahead of Defense Minister Song Young-moo's visit to Washington this week.
A group of anti-THAAD activists and residents living near the deployment site gathered outside the U.S. embassy in central Seoul, holding a press conference to demand the removal of the U.S. missile shield from the South Korean territory and urge the United States to stop pressuring South Korea for further deployment.
One lawmaker of the main opposition Liberty Korea Party claimed last week that the U.S. side called on South Korea to deploy four more THAAD launchers to the THAAD site by this Thursday.
On April 26, two mobile launchers and other THAAD elements were transported in the middle of night to a former golf course in Seongju county, North Gyeongsang province.
After the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK)'s tests in July of what it called an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM), South Korean President Moon Jae-in ordered the temporary installation of the four launchers though his office said the final decision would be made after completing an environmental impact assessment.
A THAAD battery is composed of six mobile launchers, 48 interceptors, the AN/TPY-2 radar and the fire and control unit.
Top U.S. military commanders visited South Korea last week, holding a rare press conference and visiting the THAAD site. It was seen as a signal for the U.S. to pressure South Korea to hurriedly deploy four more THAAD launchers.
The commanders included Adm. Harry Harris, chief of the U.S. Pacific Command in charge of sending reinforcements to the Korean Peninsula in time of emergency, Gen. John Hyten, head of the U.S. Strategic Command who oversees U.S. strategic assets such as nuclear-capable bombers and Lt. Gen. Samuel Greaves, director of the Missile Defense Agency controlling the U.S. missile defense (MD) systems.
Defense Minister Song, South Korea's defense chief, planned to visit Washington from Tuesday to Saturday to hold a bilateral meeting Wednesday with his U.S. counterpart Jim Mattis.
During the press conference, the anti-THAAD protesters said the bilateral meeting between defense chiefs of South Korea and the U.S. would certainly serve as an opportunity to speed up the THAAD deployment and its operation.
"We can never tolerate the behavior of the U.S., which forces us to deploy the useless, worthless THAAD, to pursue its hegemonic interests by building the (South) Korea-U.S.-Japan missile defense (MD) alliance," said the protesters.
They demanded the meeting between South Korean and the U.S. defense chiefs be stopped as it was aimed at the rapid THAAD deployment and its operation, urging Washington to immediately pull the anti-missile system out of the South Korean territory.
Following the DPRK's ICBM tests last month, President Moon ordered the further deployment of THAAD launchers, but an ICBM is not a direct threat to the South Korean territory as it has a range of at least 5,500 km.
The protesters insisted that Moon's order of the further THAAD deployment was made under the pressure from the U.S. government, saying the THAAD deployment will make South Korea become a missile defense outpost to protect the U.S. and Japan.
Moon's order also dismissed the procedural legitimacy, which the president repeatedly vowed to follow, as the order was issued without any parliamentary approval and public discussions.
Residents and the peace activists said THAAD in South Korea would threaten peace on the Korean Peninsula and in Northeast Asia while worsening relations between South Korea and China and deepening confrontation between South Korea and the DPRK.
Neighboring countries, including China and Russia, have strongly opposed the THAAD installation in South Korea as it breaks strategic balance in the region and damages security interests of neighboring countries.
