The US plan for incorporating South Korea in the US theater missile defense system

and A proposal for a united struggle against TMD

2008.4.12

1. The South Korean government's change of policy concerning MD

In an interview with CNN on 5 May 1999, President Kim Dae Jung said, "There are no plans for the ROK to participate in the missile defense program". At that time, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade Lee Jeong Bin took a negative attitude toward NMD, referring to "the process of eliminating the reasons for promoting the NMD project". At the 2001 South Korean-Russian summit conference, the Kim Dae Jung government announced its position in support of the ABM treaty, but under pressure from the Bush administration, it endured the indignity of replacing Foreign Minister Lee Jeong Bin.

The Rho Mu Hyeon government likewise took a passive attitude toward the construction of the MD system.

However, the South Korean military authorities made a detour around the ROK government's policy of not participating in the MD program and tried to construct an MD system. From 2001-2002 onward, the South Korean Ministry of National Defense installed Patriot missiles and embarked on the construction of the Aegis system. Furthermore, in October 2006, the South Korean Ministry of National Defense announced its position. It would build its own, original ROK model MD system, which would have the mission of confronting the threat of North Korea's ballistic missiles, and which had nothing to do with the US's MD system. Lee Myeong Bak, the new president, is considering specific plans for participation in the US's MD program. those plans are as follows:

1. A plan offering the US an (interceptor) missile launching site;

2. A plan for taking part in the BMD program that the US is developing;

3. A plan for sharing the costs of deploying the US's BMD system in the ROK;

4. A plan to purchase the most advanced US MD system, which can operate together with the US's BMD network.

At the ROK-US summit conference which is to be held 18-19 April, President Lee Myeong Bak is going to make clear the position of actively considering participation in the US MD program, and it appears that South Korea's official participation in the US MD program is a question of time.

2. The present state of construction of South Korea's MD system

(1) Introduction of the PAC-3

The PAC-3 is one of the typical US MD weapons used for ground-based, low-altitude defense. The PAC-3 has been upgraded so that it can share data related to other TMD systems -- the Theater High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) and Aegis BMD.

In September 2007, the South Korean Ministry of National Defense decided to purchase equipment related to the Patriot (PAC-3) missiles. Beginning in 2008, 48 Patriot missiles will be installed, costing as much as tpf=board/list&board_code=11 billion. There is also a plan to develop the ballistic missile early warning radar necessary for the MD system, by 2012.

(2) The KDX-3 Aegis BMD

By 2012, the South Korean navy will possess three vessels in the 10,000-ton class, equipped with the Aegis system. Apart from that, the South Korean Ministry of National Defense plans to construct three additional ships, also equipped with the Aegis system. South Korea's Aegis installations are equipped with the Aegis combat system -- that is, the base line 7.1 -- MD, capable of intercepting ballistic missiles.

The Aegis combat system's SPY-1D(V) radar has a maximum monitoring range of 1,054 kilometers, and can detect, identify, and track more than 900 targets in three-dimensional space on the front line. In 1998, when North Korea's Taepodong-1 missile was launched, Japen's Aegis system, Myokoho, detected it and followed its trajectory, showing the power of the SPY-1D(V).

It seems that the SM-6 missile, developed by the US navy, is being installed in the interceptor system. It is known that the SM-6 has a range of 300-400 kilometers and is capable of intercepting short-range ballistic missiles.

At the same time, the destroyer, King Sejong the Great, is being equipped with 48 ROK-model vertical take-off planes (KVLS) which the ROK developed by itself. This equipment has the ship-to-surface operational capability and is intended to serve the purpose of carrying out deep operation against North Korea.

(3) THAAD (Theater High Altitude Area Defense)

The South Korean Ministry of National Defense also plans to build the THAAD system, capable of intercepting high-altitude ballistic missiles. For this purpose, the South Korean Ministry of National Defense is promoting the work of improving the intermediate-range Cheolmae-2 surface-to-air missiles to the level of the upgraded S-400 type of ballistic missile interceptor system (Cheolmae 4-H). However, it can be said that the THAAD system is not intended to counteract North Korea's short-range ballistic missiles, but rather to intercept missiles launched from China, aimed at USFK bases.

3. The US plan to incorporate South Korea's MD into the US MD system

(1) The demand for incorporating South Korea's MD into the US MD system

B. Bell, the commander of the USFK, asserted that the ROK had to build an MD system, making it possible to integrate it into the US TMD. Moreover, Walter Sharp, nominated to be the USFK commander, said at a recent hearing in the US House of Representatives, that South Korea must immediately construct a complete MD system, with the THAAD, ABC, Aegis BMD, etc., except for the PAC-3.

Such a straightforward order by the US concerning South Korea's MD, at the same time that it clearly puts pressure on South Korea to build an MD system for its own national defense, also shows the US's real intention: to definitely force the incorporation of South Korea's MD into a Northeast Asian TMD system, based on the US. The principal weapons systems of Japan's MD are the SM-3 and the PAC-3. It has become known, though, that Japan's MD weapons system is not equivalent to the THAAD. Accordingly, the US and Japan can use their SM-3 and PAC-3 missiles, launched from Japan, Okinawa, or Guam, etc. to strike North Korea's missiles in the first stage or in the end phase. That being the case, South Korea's MD system must share the role in active defense -- interception at the launching stage or interception during preparation for launching. In order to do that, it is necessary to incorporate South Korea's MD into the Northeast Asian TMD pushed by the US.

(2) The time question in incorporating South Korea's MD into the US MD system

South Korea insists that the ROK's own model MD will intercept any North Korean low-altitude ballistic missiles that attack South Korea. However, because the ROK is militarily subordinated to the US, it is just a question of time when the ROK model MD is attached to the US's TMD system.

In June 2007, South Korea and the US agreed to the installation of the IAOC. From now on, the South Korean military forces' MD and the USFK's MD will be integrated in their military operations. That means that the ROK model MD will interface with the US 14th Air Force, JSPOC, through the US 7th Air Force AOC (AMC Cell). Also, if the ROK military's MD is linked to the US 14th Air Force's JSPOC, it must interface with the US MD system (the early warning satellite: SBIRS -- high/low, the early warning radar, C2BMC, the interception sytstem, etc.). Because of that, the ROK model MD will be completely subordinated to the US MD.

The fact that the ROK, the US, and Japan jointly purchased the most advanced base line 7.1 for the Aegis combat system also guarantees that there will be combined military operations by the Northweast Asian regional MD. Besides that, for the purpose of constructing the THAAD, it becomes all the more necessary to link and jointly operate the US military's early warning system and the C2BMC.

4. A proposal for winning the struggle to prevent the construction of the South Korean MD

South and North Korea and the Korean people must by no means become the victims of the construction of the US's MD, which is being pushed through on the basis of the lie that North Korea poses a threat. The construction of a South Korean MD would destroy peace on the Korean peninsula, provoke an endless arms race and military crises, impose an unmanageable economic burden on South and North Korea, and become a major obstacle to the reunification of South and North. The South Korean MD also runs counter to the 9.19 Joint Declaration and the 2.13 agreement, reached in the 6-Party Talks, regarding denuclearization and peace on the Korean peninsula. Since South Korea's MD has to function as a part of the US's MD, it also works directly against peace in Northeast Asia.

In 2001-2002, South Korean NGOs carried on a campaign in opposition to the construction of MD. In this way, by addressing the public, we succeeded in informing people about why the construction of the MD system was unjust and harmful. SPARK (Solidarity for Peace and Reunification of Korea) played a central role in this work. In the interval, though, the US and the South Korean military have been constantly plotting in secret for the construction of an MD system. Now President Lee Myeong Bak, right from the beginning, is planning to make it official at the administrative level that South Korea will participate in the US MD system.

In such circumstances, the strength to oppose the construction of the MD can only come from the Korean people. SPARK is carrying forward the struggle of the Korean Committee against MD and for Peace, which was active in 2001 and 2002, and will unite the efforts of the people to hold back the ROK government's participation in the MD program. In this struggle SPARK is relying on the support of the Global Network and the strength of the international peace movement.