U.S. defends THAAD system, dismisses China's woes

A ranking U.S. diplomat said Tuesday the U.S. has a "responsibility" to consider a system that can deter North Korea's missile threats, dismissing China's concerns about a possible deployment of an advanced U.S. missile-defense system in South Korea.
  

The remarks by U.S. Assistant Secretary of State Daniel Russel came as China has explicitly voiced concerns about Washington's possible move to deploy a Terminal High-Altitude Area Defense battery on Korean soil, home to about 28,500 American troops.
  

Russel said that Washington and Seoul face a "significant threat" from North Korea's growing ballistic missile program, raising the necessity of a security system, such as THAAD, to protect them from Pyongyang.
  

U.S. Assistant Secretary of State Daniel Russel. (Yonhap)

"Well, I find it curious that a third country would presume to make strong representations about a security system that has not been put in place and that is still a matter of theory," Russel told a group of reporters in Seoul after meeting with his South Korean counterpart Lee Kyung-soo.
  

"Our military authorities have a responsibility to consider systems" that can protect U.S. and Korean citizens from Pyongyang's missile threat.
  

The meeting came amid a mounting Washington-Beijing row over the THAAD battery deployment and a China-led Asian development bank.
  

South Korea is struggling to walk a diplomatic tightrope between the U.S., Seoul's key ally, and China, Seoul's largest trading partner, over the sensitive security issue.
  

Seoul and Washington have said there have been neither consultations nor a decision related to the THAAD deployment.
  

But China has raised opposition to Washington's possible move, apparently out of concerns that THAAD may be aimed at containing a rising China.
  

Russel's visit to Seoul coincided with a trip by China's assistant foreign minister, Liu Jianchao, who repeated China's worries over THAAD a day earlier.
  

Russel said THAAD deployment was not on the agenda for the Tuesday talks as his visit was not aimed at discussing the issue.
  

"I think that it is for the Republic of Korea to decide what measures it will take in its own alliance defense and when," Russel said, referring to South Korea by its official name.
  

Touching on the China-proposed development bank, Russel stressed that multilateral development banks should have high standards of good governance and transparency.
  

China launched the AIIB late last year with 20 other nations as a counterbalance to the Asian Development Bank, led by the U.S. and Japan. The AIIB has not begun operations yet as details are still being worked out. Washington apparently has pressed its key ally Seoul to be cautious about joining the regional bank.
  

Seoul plans to decide whether to join the AIIB soon as China has said the deadline to become a founding member of the bank is the end of March. Britain announced its plan last week to join the bank, becoming the first Western country to do so.
  

The U.S. has welcomed investment in infrastructure, but China should present "unmistakable evidence" that the AIIB can start with "the high watermark" in terms of governance like other multilateral development banks, Russel said.
  

Later in a regular press briefing, Seoul's foreign ministry said no decision was made on whether to join the China-led bank, although the country is currently discussing the issue with the U.S.
  

"The government is currently in consultation with the U.S. side, but (we) have not decided our stance yet," foreign ministry spokesman Noh Kawng-il said. "Because participation in the AIIB would incur considerable financial burden, our financial authorities are reviewing whether to join seriously and comprehensively."
  

The U.S. diplomat also added that the U.S. will work to support the improvement of the bilateral relations between South Korea and Japan as their diplomatic tensions "constitute a strategic liability" to all.
  

Japan's refusal to apologize for its wartime sexual enslavement of Korean women has become a major source of diplomatic tension between Seoul and Tokyo.
  

The U.S. is concerned that such a historical row may hamper trilateral cooperation among Washington, Seoul and Tokyo, risking its "pivot to Asia" policy, experts say.
  

Russel arrived in Seoul Monday for a two-day visit as part of senior-level official exchanges between Seoul and Washington following a knife-wielding attack on U.S. Ambassador to Seoul Mark Lippert.
  

At the meeting, Russel said he extended the U.S. government's appreciation to South Korea for "tremendous warmth and outpouring of sympathy and supports" related to the recent attack on Lippert.
  

"(This) has given a vivid demonstration of the strength of the U.S.-ROK alliance," Russel said. (Yonhap)