Seoul Presses Pause on THAAD

The THAAD controversy still won’t die. South Korea’s president has decided to pause the deployment of the controversial antimissile system, pending an environmental review. From the New York Times:

South Korea’s newly elected president, Moon Jae-in, has suspended the deployment of an American missile defense system, an apparent concession to China and a significant break with the United States on policy toward North Korea.

In comments to reporters, a senior official from the presidential Blue House in Seoul said on Wednesday that the two launchers of the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense system that had been installed could remain but that four launchers that had yet to be deployed would not be set up until the administration completed an environmental assessment.

The missile defense system, known as Thaad, has been controversial in South Korea and has drawn sharp criticism from China, which views the system’s radar as a threat.

Moon’s decision came after a probe uncovered that the Defense Ministry had engaged in some shifty technical maneuvers to avoid a full environmental impact assessment. That discovery seemed to confirm Moon’s suspicion that the defense establishment—and the Pentagon—were keeping him in the dark as they rushed to deploy THAAD before his inauguration. Presidential officials are saying that the suspension could last well over a year, so this is hardly a momentary hiccup. On the other hand, THAAD’s already operational launchers are being kept in place—and Moon has lately been reassuring Washington that the system isn’t going anywhere.

Perhaps, then, this suspension could be enough of a compromise for all parties to save face, since Moon will have delayed the deployment while leaving the overall system intact. But if China keeps up the pressure to scrap THAAD, and Trump keeps alienating Seoul with demands to pay up for the system, this compromise solution may not hold.