hankyoreh

The three high-ranking government officials responsible for the rushed THAAD deployment

Now that the Blue House has confirmed that the Defense Ministry deliberately omitted information about the delivery of four additional THAAD launchers from a report, the Blue House has expanded the scope of its inquiry to include not only Defense Minister Han Min-koo, who had final say over the report, but also former Blue House National Security Chief Kim Kwan-jin. Given the revelation that the Defense Ministry hurried to deploy THAAD before the presidential election and then tried to conceal related information after power changed hands, there will almost certainly be an investigation of the entire process of the previous administration’s reckless deployment of THAAD.

The reason the Park administration gave for its decision to deploy THAAD was the threat posed by North Korea’s increasingly sophisticated nuclear weapons and missiles, as demonstrated by its fourth nuclear test in Jan. 2016. But as recently as July 2016, when the US and South Korea announced their decision to deploy THAAD, Seoul said it meant to deploy the missile defense system by Dec. 2017. Even when North Korea carried out its fifth nuclear test two months later, the US and South Korea did not explicitly change their timeline for deploying THAAD.

These suspicions are centered on why the THAAD deployment timeline was suddenly accelerated so soon after the National Assembly passed the motion of impeachment against Park in Dec. 2016. After Prime Minister Hwang Kyo-ahn became acting president, then Blue House National Security Chief Kim Kwan-jin visited the US on two occasions to discuss the THAAD deployment issue in detail. It will be necessary to confirm what exactly Kim discussed with the US during these visits. And considering that Kim was an advisor who was carrying out the president’s instructions, another thing that needs to be determined is the extent to which Hwang was involved in the decision to deploy THAAD earlier than planned.

There are also a number of disturbing aspects about how the THAAD system was deployed in South Korea. On Mar. 6, US Forces Korea (USFK) moved two mobile launchers from a THAAD battery in Texas to Osan Air Base. USFK took the unusual step of making public images showing this “strategic weapon” being brought into the country. This basically hinted at the plan to make THAAD a fait accompli prior to the May 9 presidential election.

And then on Apr. 26, barely two weeks before the election, the Defense Ministry and USFK deployed THAAD at the Seongju Golf Course in North Gyeongsang Province. This deployment occurred suddenly, in the early hours of the morning, as if it were some kind of military operation. The next day, the Defense Ministry announced that the THAAD system would soon become fully operational, even though the environmental impact assessment had not even been completed. This was the finishing touch in the campaign to make the THAAD deployment irreversible. It also appears to have been around this time that the Defense Ministry omitted from a report that four more THAAD launchers had been brought into South Korea.

“THAAD is the biggest issue facing South Korea and the US and the security issue that is of the greatest interest to the president. For the Defense Ministry to deliberately omit information about THAAD from a report is tantamount to an act of defiance against the commander-in-chief. To restore discipline in the military, it will be necessary to review the entire chain of command, determine the circumstances of the omission from the report and single out the parties responsible,” said an expert in diplomacy and security who was part of Moon’s presidential campaign. “This incident also leaves us with no choice but to investigate the whole process by which the THAAD deployment was inappropriately pushed through prior to the presidential election. We will need to carefully consider whether any damage was done to the national interest during the process of pushing forward the THAAD deployment.”

Now that the Blue House has Kim Kwan-jin in its sights, another big question is whether Hwang Kyo-ahn will also be included in the scope of the investigation. The Blue House believes that the various events related to the THAAD deployment – including decision-making, negotiations with the US and bringing equipment into South Korea – were probably handled by security officials with experience in the military in the Blue House National Security Office and the Defense Ministry leadership. But since Hwang had the authority and responsibility to oversee Kim Kwan-jin and other members of the national security team, the question of what briefings he received on the THAAD deployment and what decisions he made is important. But this is a sensitive subject for the Blue House, since holding the prime minister of the previous administration responsible for security matters could provoke controversy about “political retaliation.”

By Jung In-hwan and Lee Se-young, staff reporters

Please direct questions or comments to [english@hani.co.kr]