The Ministry of National Defense on Monday dismissed the growing speculation about South Korea's possible purchase of the U.S.-made THAAD missile defense system as a "mere rumor."

Although the ministry has said it would not purchase a Terminal High Altitude Area Defense system from the U.S., speculation has persisted that Seoul would acquire one or two THAAD batteries to counter Pyongyang's evolving nuclear and missile threats.

"(The speculation) is a mere rumor. It is not true," ministry spokesperson Moon Sang-gyun said during a regular press briefing.

The U.S. military wants to bring a THAAD battery into the peninsula to better protect its forces stationed in the South.

Seoul and Washington have announced they would launch formal talks over the deployment of THAAD soon.

As one THAAD battery can cover only half of the South, some analysts raised the need for the South to run one or two batteries on its own to cover the whole country. This has spawned speculation that Seoul would separately purchase a THAAD battery.

Instead of purchasing THAAD, Seoul has been pushing to develop L-SAM, which is a long-range surface-to-air missile with interception capabilities similar to those of THAAD, as part of its efforts to construct an independent missile defense system called the Korea Air and Missile Defense.

Asked why the allies' official talks over THAAD have yet to begin, Moon said that Seoul and Washington were still in the process of working out the details of the operations of a joint working group to discuss the issue.

"We are now consulting with each other to craft the terms of agreement for the operation of the joint working group. We will notify you when the agreement is signed," Moon said. 

The THAAD is a core element of the multilayered U.S. missile defense program. It is designed to intercept short, medium and intermediate-range ballistic missiles at altitudes of 40 to 150 kilometers during their terminal phase of flight after detecting the missiles with a land-based radar array that has a maximum range of about 1,800 km.

A THAAD battery, which is known to cost about 1 trillion won, consists of six truck-mounted launchers, 48 interceptors (eight per launcher), a fire control and communications unit and AN/TPY-2 radar. (Yonhap)