South Korean President Moon Jae-in (L) and US President Joe Biden hold a joint press conference following their talks at the White House in Washington on Friday. (Yonhap)
China has raised no complaints about a recent agreement between South Korea and the United States to lift restrictions on Seoul's missile development, the defense ministry said Monday.
After his first in-person summit talks with US President Joe Biden in Washington on Friday, President Moon Jae-in announced the decision to scrap the bilateral guidelines that ban South Korea from developing or possessing missiles with a maximum flight range greater than 800 kilometers.
Asked if there was any response from China following the announcement, ministry spokesman Boo Seung-chan said Beijing has not raised any complaints about the decision.
"I don't think it's an issue that we should make a decision on after taking the effect on neighboring countries into consideration," he said.
The lifting is expected to beef up South Korea's defense capabilities by allowing it to secure longer-range missiles that can fly beyond the Korean Peninsula and is also widely seen as part of the US strategy to counter China.
"The termination of the guidelines reflects how the Biden administration lays importance on the South Korea-US alliance, as well as the trust in our country based on our national capacity, status and as a model nation for international nonproliferation," Boo said. (Yonhap)