South Korean president calls for suspension of US missile deployment

The presidency stressed it wasn’t calling for the withdrawal of two launchers and other equipment stationed on a designated site in a remote southeastern area.

"But those that have yet to be deployed will have to wait," a senior administration official told reporters, according to the Yonhap news agency.

The launchers and radar for the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense system were deployed in the Seongju area in an overnight operation that critics said was aimed at getting it into place before May 9 snap elections that ushered Moon into office.

The government also has launched an investigation into whether the country’s defense ministry kept secret the delivery of four additional launchers and sought to make the program appear smaller to legally avoid an all-out environmental impact evaluation.

The official with the Blue House, as the president’s office is known, was quoted as saying the additional four will have to wait to be deployed in Seongju until the environmental impact evaluation is completed. The official acknowledged the assessment could take up to a year.

Washington and Seoul agreed last year to bring THAAD to the divided peninsula to counter the growing nuclear and missile threat from North Korea.

But many Seongju residents and other South Koreans opposed the decision, which was made by ex-President Park Geun-hye’s administration. China also fears THAAD’s powerful radar could be used against its military, despite insistence by U.S. and South Korean military officials that it is solely aimed at the North.

Moon was elected about two months after Park was ousted and jailed over an influence peddling and corruption scandal.

As a candidate, he never specifically opposed THAAD but said its deployment should be reviewed by the new administration.