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Members of civic groups hold a press conference condemning the Ministry of National Defense’s omission of the deployment four additional THAAD launchers in its briefing and calling for a thorough investigation into the case

The Chinese government has expressed its deep concern about the omission of information from South Korean government briefings about the deployment of the THAAD missile defense system.

When Chinese Foreign Policy Spokesperson Hua Chunying was asked during the regular press briefing on May 31 to comment about the South Korean Defense Ministry’s omission of information about the delivery of four more THAAD launchers in its briefing to the Blue House, she said that China was “deeply concerned about the relevant situation.”

“The deployment of THAAD by the US in the ROK jeopardizes China's strategic security interests [and] disrupts regional strategic balance,” Hua went on to say, reaffirming China’s standard position. “We once again strongly urge the US and the ROK to stop and call off the deployment of THAAD.”

In related news, the US Department of Defense claimed that the THAAD deployment process had been transparent. "We continue to work very closely with the Republic of Korea government and we have been very transparent in all of our actions throughout this process," Pentagon spokesman Jeff Davis told reporters on May 30.

These remarks appear to convey the attitude that the US’s delivery of the four additional THAAD launchers was in keeping with an agreement with South Korea and that the information omitted from briefings was a matter of South Korean domestic politics.

“At the moment, THAAD is only equipped with its initial capability. [The US] has additional [deployment] capacity to reach a level that is more than adequate to carry out its full mission,” David said, adding that “We will keep working with the South Korean government and focus on the THAAD program.” This suggests that the US will push ahead with deploying the additional four launchers despite the controversy inside South Korea.

By Yi Yong-in and Kim Oi-hyun, Washington and Beijing correspondents

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