Gaynor Dumat-ol Daleno

PDN

Guam has become part of the debate in South Korea over whether the country’s citizens should welcome a type of missile defense similar to one that was deployed to Guam in 2013 following threats from North Korea.

Members of a South Korean press corps covering that country’s Ministry of National Defense visited the site of the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense missile defense battery in Guam’s Andersen Air Force Base Monday.

The South Korean press corps came to “observe an operational system” and to see the safety of the system, according Air Force Capt. Joel Banjo-Johnson, chief of 36th Wing Public Affairs at Andersen.

When the Pentagon decided to send an emergency deployment of a THAAD missile defense battery to Guam in 2013, Guam officials welcomed the move following North Korea’s threats to launch missiles directed at the island’s military installations.

With eye on North, U.S. to deploy THAAD missile defense system in South Korea

In South Korea, recent public sentiment over the announcement that the South Korean government has agreed for the United States to station a THAAD there, has been mixed.

South Korean news agency Yonhap reported that half of 1,004 South Koreans who were recently surveyed by Gallup Korea were in favor of the deployment of a THAAD battery in their homeland.

Nearly half of survey respondents said they are willing to host the THAAD system in their neighborhood, while 39 percent said they would oppose the move, according to Yonhap.

Supporters of the THAAD deployment mostly claimed that it will add to national security and safety, while the opposition said the missile shield may be effective, but it could adversely impact Seoul’s relationship with China and Russia, according to Yonhap.

On Friday, anti-THAAD protesters hurled eggs and water bottles at South Korean Prime Minister Hwang Kyo-Ahn, according to the Associated Press.

The South Korean-U.S. alliance plans to station the THAAD in Seongju, a farming county of about 50,000 people, about 135 miles southeast of Seoul, according to The New York Times.

Seoul, U.S. to open talks on missile defense

Some of the Seongju residents fear that the presence of the powerful radar system will threaten their health and their crops — fears that the South Korean government said were groundless, according to the Times.

Kelly Park, owner of the Korean Community News in Guam, said the THAAD is a big issue in South Korea.

While Guam residents are primarily focused on the economic benefits of the military’s presence, she said South Koreans’ worries include the possibility that South Korea might irritate China and Russia with the hosting of a THAAD.

Some of the South Koreans are also worried about the health and safety of their people, she said.

Pentagon spokesman Peter Cook, in a July 12 press conference, said there’s no specific date for when a THAAD will be deployed to South Korea.

“We’ve been clear, as I believe the South Koreans have as well, that the purpose of the THAAD system — it is a defensive system,” according to a transcript of Cook’s statement.

“It is intended to protect against the very real threat that we’ve seen coming from North Korea. And that the Chinese and the Russians should not have concerns about that system ... because of the way it’s designed and its purpose, which is again, to protect against the very real North Korea threat,” according to Cook.

Guam’s THAAD “isn’t affected by any other THAAD deployments,” Banjo-Johnson said.

Aguon: THAAD will deter North Korean missile attacks