07.06.2017, South Korea.
When speaking to journalists in Seoul, a representative of the administration of the President of South Korea announced that the construction of the American missile defense system in South Korea is suspended because an environmental hazards assessment is necessary, TASS news agency reported June 7.
According to the South Korean law, it is necessary to conduct an environmental assessment when building military facilities which occupy an area of more than 330 thousand square meters. In order to speed up the construction of the missile defense site, the country’s defense ministry tried to cheat: the territory for construction was divided into sections which were supposed to be gradually given to the American side for the construction of military facilities.
A spokesman for the South Korean presidential administration said that an environmental assessment could take a long time; and perhaps, the US missile defense system would not be operational until the end of 2017. At the same time, he noted that the delay in deploying the anti-missile system does not bother the head of state Moon Jae-in. The president of the country does not believe that it is necessary to hurry with putting the missile defense system on combat duty because he has no reason to believe that the country is in greater danger now than it was before.
The dispute over the deployment of the US missile defense system to South Korea has worsened after Donald Trump’s statements in April 2017 about the intention to bill South Korea for $ 1 billion. Representatives of the Korean Democratic (Minjoo) Party, actively oppose the deployment of the US missile defense system.
On May 10, during his inauguration, Moon Jae-in, the new president of South Korea, promised to reconsider the issue of US missile defense deployment. According to him, the project of placing a US missile defense system in the country has not only advantages, but also serious shortcomings. This project leads to a deterioration of relations with China, which is South Korea’s largest trading partner.
Source: Rossa Primavera News Agency
