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South Korean President Park Geun-hye gestures while responding to a question at a Blue House press conference following her New Year’s address

During an official statement and the subsequent press conference on Jan. 13, South Korean President Park Geun-hye announced that her administration would review the possibility of allowing the US military to deploy the THAAD missile defense system in South Korea, in consideration of the threat posed by North Korean nuclear weapons and missiles and in keeping with the national security and the national interest, which she said would be the only standards considered.

Park’s remarks could provoke controversy because of the direct reference to reviewing the deployment of THAAD, which is expected to face strong objection not only from the political opposition but also from China.

Park also addressed arguments that have been advanced in some circles for South Korea to acquire tactical nuclear weapons. “I can certainly understand the arguments being made that we ought to have tactical nuclear weapons. There are certainly reasons for making such arguments. But because of what we have been doing with the international community, that [acquiring nuclear weapons] would be breaking our promise with the international community,” she said.

The plans that Park outlined on Wednesday with regard to nuclear armament and the deployment of THAAD are largely the same as the administration’s previous position. What stands out, though, is that Park left open the possibility of such policies by saying that the government would consider them according to the national security and the national interest.

THAAD (Terminal High Altitude Area Defense), a system of interceptors used for missile defense developed by Lockheed Martin, became the subject of controversy in June 2014 when Curtis Scaparrotti, who leads the US and South Korean forces in Combined Forces Command, said he had asked his superiors in the US to deploy THAAD on the Korean Peninsula.

After this, Seoul received an expression of concern from the Chinese government, which thinks that China would be the ultimate target if THAAD is deployed in South Korea. There was also a split of opinion inside South Korea about the proposed deployment.

When the controversy spread, Seoul officially declared that, in the event that the US government requests permission to deploy THAAD on South Korean soil, it would make the decision according to national security and the national interest. Park’s reaffirmation on Wednesday that “national security and the national interest” are the standards for determining the deployment of THAAD also appears to be motivated by the wider controversy about the issue.

Park’s use of the word “review” could be interpreted in a number of ways.

While the THAAD issue remains a hot topic, actual discussion of the issue reportedly remains at a standstill.

“We haven’t received any requests from the US for deliberations about deploying THAAD, and our understanding is that the US government hasn’t made a decision about the issue, either,” an official at Seoul’s Ministry of National Defense said.

But the South Korean military is hardly opposed to the idea of the US military bringing the interceptors into South Korea.

“It doesn’t matter to us whether or not the US military deploys THAAD [in South Korea]. That said, we don’t have any plans to purchase it to deploy it ourselves,” said then Minister of National Defense and current Blue House National Security Director Kim Kwan-jin during a hearing before the National Assembly in June 2014.

In October of the same year, Minister of National Defense Han Min-goo told the National Assembly that “If THAAD is deployed, I believe it would contribute greatly not only to defending the US military but also South Korea.”

In regard to the prospect of nuclear armament, President Park has largely used the phrase “tactical nuclear weapons.” But in context, her comments appear to address two separate proposals that have been made recently by [some members of] the Saenuri Party (NFP), namely, nuclear armament by South Korea and the introduction of tactical nuclear weapons by the US army.

Tactical nuclear weapons are used, as the name suggests, in a tactical context. They can be fired from artillery pieces or delivered by short-range missiles.

US forces on the Korean Peninsula had deployed “Honest John” nuclear-capable rockets and howitzers capable of firing 8-inch nuclear shells since the late 1960s, but removed them in 1991 so as not to give North Korea an excuse for developing nuclear weapons.

By Park Byong-su, senior staff reporter

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