President Moon Jae-in and US President Joe Biden (Yonhap)
WASHINGTON/SEOUL -- The upcoming summit between South Korean President Moon Jae-in and his US counterpart Joe Biden in Washington is expected to cover the topic of abolishing the guideline on Seoul's missile use, officials said Thursday.
A senior Cheong Wa Dae official accompanying Moon on his US trip told pool reporters that Seoul's diplomatic and security officials have had the "will and idea of resolving the issue of abolishing the missile guideline" before the end of the president's term.
Moon will hold one-on-one talks with Biden at the White House on Friday (local time), as the allies have a range of pending issues to coordinate, especially on North Korea, COVID-19 vaccines and global supply chain resilience.
"We're hoping that we could produce a positive conclusion on that possibility tomorrow (in the South Korea-US summit)," the official said, suggesting that an agreement on abolishing the guideline could potentially be reached.
South Korea is still prohibited from firing ballistic missiles with the range of over 800 kilometers under the alliance accord first signed in 1979. Seoul would be in complete control of its missile sovereignty for the first time in 42 years if the two leaders reach an agreement on terminating the guideline.
"The US-South Korea missile guideline is now 42 years old. Back then, we decided to adopt missiles under US control to obtain missile technology, but that has instead served as shackles," the official explained.
The guideline was initially forged as the South sought to secure core technology and components for its missile development from the US, amid its heavy diplomatic and economic dependence on its superpower ally.
The US initially limited the range to 180 km while banning Seoul from mounting a payload weighing more than 500 kg. The guideline was revised in 2001 and 2012 to extend the range to 300 km and 800 km, respectively, amid growing concerns about the missile gap with the North.
The guideline was revised twice under the Moon administration, in 2017 and 2020, first clearing the weight limit of warheads on ballistic missiles and later lifting the ban on using solid fuel for space launch vehicles. (Joint Press Corps)