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By Kwon Tae-ho, Washington correspondent
The US is debating whether to agree to an increase in firing range for South Korean ballistic missiles.
Carl Levin, chairman of the US Senate Committee on Armed Services, spoke on the issue at a national security seminar held June 12 at the National Press Club in Washington.
“If they want to do it in a non-threatening way, totally defensive way at its own expense, I don‘t have any problem,” he said. At the same time, he cautioned that it should be done in a way that avoids provoking Beijing or Pyongyang.
Levin’s remarks reflect the deep consideration Washington is giving the issue. With the missile guidelines it established with the US in 1979, on the condition that South Korea join the Missile Technology Control Regime.
South Korea agreed to develop missiles with a firing range no greater than 180 km. In 2001, this was adjusted to 300 km. But after North Korea developed a missile with a range of 1,300 km, Seoul asked that the limit be raised from 800 to 1,000 km.
While the US would be hard-pressed to ignore the demands of an ally like South Korea, it is also concerned that an extension could provoke China and North Korea and increase tensions in the region. Inter-Korean relations have been tense since North Korea’s April rocket launch. South Korea’s request would also be a step back from the Barack Obama administration’s nonproliferation policy for weapons of mass destruction.
Former US Joint Chiefs of Staff vice chairman James Cartwright referred to this during the seminar, stressing that it was more a diplomatic than technical issue.
“Understanding how all in the neighborhood view that change and that they understand it is a key issue here,” he said.
A South Korean Ministry of National Defense official said the matter was not on the formal agenda for the second round of “2+2” foreign and defense minister talks with the US, to be held in Washington on June 13 and 14. At the same time, the two countries are known to be in ongoing discussions on the issue.
　
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