‘Progress in South Korea-US-Japan Trilateral MD Cooperation’ that South Korea Knows Nothing About?

Yesterday Martin Dempsey, U.S. chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff who is visiting South Korea, offered definitive confirmation that South Korea is joining the United States’ MD (missile defense) system. On March 24 he reported that “[W]e’re making progress on building an integrated air and missile defense umbrella.” In addition, he described the current situation as one in which “both the Koreans and the Japanese have made some commitments in procurements on their side to make us more interoperable.” The South Korean government has been claiming that it is only working on developing KAMD,* and not considering joining the U.S. missile defense (MD) system, or considering the interoperability of South Korea-U.S.-Japan MD networks. Dempsey and the South Korean government are contradicting each other; one of them has to be lying.

Considering a few key factors, it is unlikely Dempsey would make false claims. The U.S. Congress has ordered the strengthening of trilateral MD cooperation and of detailed reports on its results. The U.S. Department of Defense has to abide by congressional orders and is responsible for executing them. Perhaps Dempsey is exaggerating the fact that South Korea has purchased an additional PAC-3 anti-missile system, after finding its older version, PAC-2, insufficient. Nevertheless, the South Korean government’s claim that the purchase of PAC-2 and PAC-3 are not related to U.S. MD at all is hard to believe. The government won’t admit interoperability with the U.S. MD system, even if the government has made it official that it is installing THAAD,** a system which has capacity to strike at higher altitude. Regardless, there is no other way to explain South Korea’s intelligence-sharing agreement with the U.S. and Japan, its consistent purchase of U.S. MD weapons, and its push for THAAD installation, which is crucial to the United States’ missile defense strategy.

The progress of the trilateral MD integration can be verified by the responses of North Korea, China and Russia, the very countries the MD system is targeting. North Korea and Russia recently joined with China condemning the THAAD installation in South Korea in official statements from the Ministry of Foreign Policy, arguing that it will create an arms race in Northeast Asia, ushering in a new Cold War era. Whether the South Korean government admits it or not, the progression of trilateral MD cooperation among South Korea, the U.S. and Japan, and the conflicts in Northeast Asia that will surely derive from this are undeniable.

South Korea cannot choose between U.S. and China, nor can it put Northeast Asia in peril by pitting the Seoul-Washington-Tokyo alliance against the Pyongyang-Beijing-Moscow alliance. That kind of framework is also in conflict with South Korea President Park Geun-hye’s promise of a Korean Peninsula trust process, a cooperative peace process in Northeast Asia, and individual cooperation with Eurasia. The government must put a stop to the notion of joining the U.S. MD system and must work on improving relations with Pyongyang, Beijing and Moscow for the sake of peace and security. High-tech weaponry does not automatically guarantee peace.

*Editor’s note: KAMD represents a national Korean missile defense system.

** Editor’s note: THAAD represents Terminal High Altitude Area Defense.