A group of South Korean opposition lawmakers defied President Park Geun-Hye and left for China on Monday to discuss the deployment of a USA anti-missile system that has opened a damaging rift between Seoul and Beijing.
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Seoul’s decision to deploy one THAAD battery by the end of next year came despite strong objections from China and Russian Federation, which have repeatedly said the deployment damages their security interests and breaks strategic balance in the region. Both of these measures seem to be attempts to impose a price and to sway South Korean domestic opinion by emphasizing that South Korea must pay a price for taking actions perceived to threaten China’s strategic and economic interests. “She is well aware of the real direction of the THAAD anti-missile system”, the editorial read.
Relations between the two countries have strained as a result of the THAAD deployment plan, with reports claiming that China could ban South Korea actors and entertainers from the mainland in retaliation.
Over that same period, the two Asian countries developed a regional friendship, according to Jane Perlez of The New York Times. He made an elaborate state visit to Seoul while shunning North Korea and its young leader, Kim Jong-un, whom he has yet to meet. Ms. Park returned the favor past year, coming to Beijing for a major military parade at Tiananmen Square, the only leader of an American ally to attend. During North Korea’s fourth nuclear test in January, in which the country said it tested a hydrogen bomb, Park couldn’t reach Xi by telephone.
Reiterating her call for bipartisan cooperation to counter the growing threat from North Korea’s nuclear and missile programmes, Ms Park yesterday said the visit would be counter-productive and suggested the lawmakers were being irresponsibly disloyal.
Once reliant on a Soviet-style centrally-planned economy, North Korea is now home to a thriving system of semi-legal but policed markets known as “jangmadang”, where individuals and wholesalers can buy and sell privately-produced or imported goods. News reports said that one ballistic missile flew approximately 1,000 km and landed near waters in the Japanese territory. China believes that the capabilities of this missile defense system exceed the demands of the peninsula, indicating that THAAD is actually created to threaten China and Russian Federation, as well as upset the regional balance of power. However, under these conditions, contacts at the highest governmental level between China and South Korea are unlikely.
Some South Korean academics and legislators also oppose THAAD.
The ongoing row is threatening to undo the substantial effort President Park has put into strengthening ties with China, which is not only South Korea’s largest trade partner but also the key player in curbing North Korea’s nuclear ambitions.
Seoul argues that North Korea poses a present and immediate threat to regional security, but China worries more about being encircled by an increasingly aggressive United States. This is not the first time the Security Council has failed to adopt a statement on North Korea.
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“It went smoothly till the end”, the official said.
