S. Korea denies reported deployment of US missile shield

SEOUL - South Korea's Defense Ministry on Thursday denied the reported deployment of a US missile defense system, saying that it will pursue an indigenous missile shield separately from the US one.

Defense Ministry spokesman Kim Min-seok told a routine press briefing that South Korea is not considering the adoption of the Lockheed Martin's Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) designed to intercept ballistic missiles in an ascending stage.

Kim said the ministry was unaware of whether the United States was seeking the deployment of a THAAD battery on the Korean Peninsula, denying a US daily's reports.

According to the reports, the US military has conducted a site survey for its THAAD battery deployment in South Korea though no final decision has been made yet.

The South Korean military planned to purchase PAC-3 missiles designed to shoot ballistic missiles in a descending stage, while developing L-SAM, a long-range ground-to-air missile that will intercept missiles at an altitude of 50-60 km, Kim said. The military planned to develop its indigenous interceptor missile by 2022.

Citing experts, Kim said that Scud missiles fired from the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) could be intercepted by the PAC-3 missiles which would be hard to shoot down the medium- range Rodong missiles.

The spokesman said the military will shoot down ballistic missiles in a descending stage with PAC-3 missiles while developing the L-SAM to intercept missiles at a higher altitude.

Denying speculations that South Korea will join the US-led missile shield, Kim said that the Korea Air and Missile Defense ( KAMD) is a separate system from the US missile defense, reiterating that the two systems are different geographically and structurally.

Asked about whether defense chiefs of the United States, South Korea and Japan will discuss missile defense at a security conference in Singapore scheduled for May 31, Kim said the issue has not been on the trilateral dialogue table.

On Monday, the spokesman denied speculations that South Korea will adopt the US Standard Missile 3 (SM-3) weapons system, saying the military has never examined the concrete weapons for the ship-based missile defense.

Kim said the military is targeting the missile shield that can intercept DPRK ballistic missiles in a descending stage, adding the SM-3 goes beyond its target.