ICAS Special Contribution

2015-0612-BxK

South Korea Needs THAAD Missile Defense

Bruce Klingner


Institute for Corean-American Studies, Inc.
965 Clover Court, Blue Bell, PA 19422
Email: icas@icasinc.org
http://www.icasinc.org

Biographic sketch & links: Bruce Klingner

[Editor's note: We gratefully acknowledge the special contribution of this paper, published by the Heritage Foundation courtesy of Bruce Klingner to ICAS. sjk]


South Korea Needs THAAD Missile Defense

Bruce Klingner

June 12, 2015 Heritage Foundation Backgrounder 3024 on Missle Defense


Abstract

Despite escalating North Korean nuclear and missile threats, South Korea resists implementing a more effective defense of its populace and critical military targets. Seoul refrains from deploying more capable interceptors and linking its network into a more comprehensive and capable allied network. President Park Geun-hye maintains a policy of “strategic ambiguity” due to Chinese pressure against U.S. deployment of the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) to South Korea. Seoul should instead exercise its sovereign right to defend the country and its citizens against the North Korean threat brought on, in part, by Beijing’s unwillingness to confront its belligerent ally.

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This page last updated June 26, 2015 jdb