Foreign Minister Kang Kyung-wha told lawmakers Monday South Korea is not considering any additional deployment of a US missile defense system called THAAD.

She also reiterated that the country won't participate in the US-led missile defense networks.

"We are not considering any additional THAAD deployment," Kang told a parliamentary audit of the foreign ministry in Seoul.

The US military has installed a THAAD battery that includes six missile launchers in the southeastern town of Seongju.

The move came despite strong protest from China which suspects it is part of the US-led MD and claims it would hurt its strategic security interest.


Kang reiterated that the THAAD battery is aimed at defending South Korea and the US troops stationed here against the missile threats from the North.

"Let me be clear on this. As explained on many occasions before, the THAAD system is a self-defense measure that has nothing to do with the MD," the minister said.

Asked if the government has any plan to offer an apology to China with regard to the THAAD-related feud, Kang said that there is "nothing to apologize for."

She added that discussion is under way with China on the timing of South Korean President Moon Jae-in's visit to Beijing.

"Given the leaders of the two countries agreed on the visit (by President Moon) to China at a mutually convenient time when they met on the sidelines of the Group of 20 gathering in early July, discussion is under way to coordinate its timing," she said.

"We are pushing to make it (President Moon's visit to China) happen within this year," she noted.

Kang emphasized that the two neighbors have been communicating with each to discuss major pending issues "frequently" and "at various levels," saying that she expects to disclose "relevant news" sooner or later for a future-oriented relationship with China.

Meanwhile, asked whether US President Donald Trump is to tour the Demilitarized Zone separating the two Koreas when he visits here early next month, Kang declined to elaborate, only saying that "all options" are on the table.

She later said that both sides are making preparations "at this moment" for a possible trip by Trump to Camp Humphreys, a US military base in Pyeongtaek, some 70 kilometers south of Seoul. (Yonhap)