South Korea Says No to US Missile Defense System

Sputnik News

13:10 09.03.2015(updated 13:52 09.03.2015)

South Korea does not intend to purchase a Terminal High-Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) battery, a US anti-ballistic missile system, to defend itself against the missile threat from Pyongyang despite growing support for the move in the ruling Saenuri Party.

'Basically, the system would do good to better defend the country from missiles from North Korea, but we will make a judgment by putting the national interest as our top priority,' said Kim Min-seok, a spokesman for South Korea's Ministry of National Defense, as quoted by Yonhap.

The United States has urged South Korea to join its missile defense system in Asia. However, Seoul remains opposed to the idea, which is also a matter of concern to China. Last week, China sent a warning that the potential deployment of a new US missile defense system in South Korea could undermine relations between Seoul and Beijing.

Instead, South Korea is determined to develop its own missile defense system known as Korea Air and Missile Defense (KAMD), as well as Kill Chain, a pre-emptive strike system. KAMD is based on the Patriot missile batteries and cruisers equipped with the Aegis Combat System, Seoul purchased from the US.

'We will establish an MD system of our own against North Korea's ballistic missiles by developing L-SAM and M-SAM surface-to-air missiles,' Kim Min-seok said.

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