Posted on 07/24/2014 10:41:06 PM PDT by TigerLikesRooster
U.S. dismisses Russian concern about THAAD system in S. Korea
2014-07-25 10:44
The United States said Thursday an advanced missile defense battery it plans to deploy to South Korea is not aimed at Russia, after Moscow expressed concern that the system would negatively affect the regional situation and provoke an arms race.
The U.S. military plans to bring a Terminal High-Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) missile defense battery into South Korea to help deter threats from North Korea. The U.S. has conducted a site survey for the system, though no decision has been announced as to where to put it.
Russia's foreign ministry voiced concerns about the plan, saying in a statement earlier Thursday that the plan "cannot but cause concern" and claiming that it will "inevitably have a negative impact on the strategic situation in the region and could provoke an arms race in Northeast Asia."
State Department deputy spokeswoman Marie Harf dismissed such concerns.
"We have very clearly said that we are committed to missile defense, but also to missile defense cooperation with Russia, which would enhance the security of both NATO and of Russia," Harf told reporters at a Foreign Press Center briefing.
"I understand there are strong opinions in Russia about missile defense. We have been very clear that it is not aimed at them and we are looking at a variety of other threats and we will continue talking to them and being transparent with them about why we are doing what we are doing," she said.
Harf said the U.S. remains firm in its position that North Korea should first take concrete steps to demonstrate it is committed to giving up its nuclear program before the long-stalled six-party talks on denuclearization reopen.
"We've said that the North Koreans need to take certain steps before we can get back to the table and will continue to have those conversations," she said in response to a request for comment on Chinese Vice Foreign Minister Zhang Yesui's remarks that the U.S. should lower the bar for resuming the six-party talks.
She also said the U.S. sees a "quite a bit of urgency" in the nuclear issue.
"That's why ... there should be a high bar here. It is a very dangerous threat," she said. "We've seen increasingly provocative rhetoric coming out of North Korea, including with recent missile launches that are in violation of UN Security Council resolutions."
Harf stressed that Washington is not ignoring the North Korean nuclear issue, adding that the U.S. has "a whole team very focused on working with our partners and the rest of the six parties as well to see if we can get back to the table."
Asked for comment on the recent agreement on the establishment of a hotline between the South Korean and Chinese defense ministries, the spokeswoman said the concept of hotlines in general is good because it could be helpful in resolving territorial disputes like those surrounding the South and East China seas.
"Anything that can reduce tensions and try to get these disputes resolved peacefully we do think is a good thing. That's just one of those steps that we tend to observe across the board," she said. (Yonhap)
P!
Would they put ABMs in Cuba?
Why would anyone ever listen to any of these State Department spokesdopes?
Obama’s policy on Foreign Affairs..........”U.S. dismisses”....
....”U.S. military plans to bring a Terminal High-Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) missile defense battery into South Korea”.....
And the reason S. Korea can’t build their own? Isn’t this just poking Ol’ Kim in the eyeball? Not that this hasn’t been the standard of late. Obama’s “pivot to Asia” seems to be right on the heels of Putins “pivots”.
US has been pushing MD on S. Korea for some time. Even before current Ukrainian conflict. It is basically a move to encircle China. MD infrastructure has been installed in Japan. S. Korea may not go that far, but could agree to THAAD as a sort of compromise.
Still,... N.Korea’s not going to take that sitting down....the oldsters up there are not as dense about foreign affairs as young Kim. ...they enjoy saber rattling to much to let this fly without a response.
NK is not conducive to “cautious” approach. They see it as a proof that their intimidation tactic is working and promptly ups the ante.
I hope they build it as far away from the DMZ as possible, perhaps near Pusan.
The Chinese are also not too happy about this...
But don’t worry, Obama will remove the system once he figures out it is going in.
THAAD has only limited range, but it would be useful for more than regional defense. It could intercept Nork ICBMs aimed at the U.S. in boost phase, including weapons aimed at Hawaii. It would also provide a safe haven shield for naval assets, including carriers, from Chinese ballistic missiles.
I sure hope Obama doesn’t find out.
“Would they put ABMs in Cuba?” Yep, they did!
An up to date question might be, did they remove all of their ABM’s in 1962/63?
And we’ve got a bunch of children in charge of our foreign policy.
ABM technology wasn’t around in 1960s.
How about ICBM?
~Read: The Soviets are angry that THAAD would reduce their possibility to threaten other countries. ~
Well, how would you feel if they had similar system in Cuba?
~How about ICBM?~
I’m sure there are none. But it could appear easily, with THAADS in South Korea.
After all MAD doctrine was a key to relative global stability for a few decades. Who would unilaterally give up on it?
Would you support Obama’s decision to deprive US strategic forces of capabilities to threaten Russia? Russians won’t let their leadership something like that too.
So far I haven’t supported anything the Obama the Sunni has tried to do or done.
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