The United States is burning up its anti-missile munitions at a furious rate as Iran continues to strike at targets across the Middle East. One of its closest allies in Asia is feeling the pinch.
South Korea pays the price for Trump’s war
Two weeks into the Iran war, the lack of foresight among United States defence planners is becoming more evident by the day as the Pentagon scrambles to move defensive weapons systems into the region. Iranian attacks on the Gulf monarchies have exposed the shallowness of their defence inventories and fuelled their resentment as Washington deployed its best defensive systems to Israel rather than to them.
The Washington Post reported on Monday that the US was moving parts of a Terminal High-Altitude Area Defence system (Thaad) from South Korea to the Middle East. There has been no official announcement, although South Korea’s president, Lee Jae Myung, appeared to confirm the redeployment during a cabinet meeting in Seoul on Wednesday.
“US Forces Korea may dispatch some air defence systems abroad in accordance with its own military needs. While we have expressed opposition, the reality is that we cannot fully push through our position,” he said.
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“External support can disappear at any time due to changes in the international order. We must faithfully build our self-reliant national defence capabilities.”
Manufactured by Lockheed Martin, Thaad can intercept missiles inside and outside Earth’s atmosphere during the final stage of their flight. It uses radars and interceptors, which can reach high altitudes quickly because they do not carry an explosive warhead but use the energy generated by being in motion to cause the incoming missile to detonate in the sky.
South Korean media have reported that the US has also been moving Patriot missiles, which are used to intercept ballistic missiles at lower altitudes, from its bases on the peninsula to the Middle East. Ukraine could also face depleted air defences as the US burns through its stockpiles of Patriot missiles, using by some estimates almost twice as many during the first week of the Iran war as Ukraine has fired during four years of its war with Russia.
The US redeployment of Thaad batteries is especially painful to Seoul in view of the high price it paid when the system was first deployed in South Korea 10 years ago. Although its stated purpose is to intercept missiles from North Korea, China protested it was a threat to its security because of the system’s surveillance capabilities.
Beijing imposed an informal set of economic sanctions that saw boycotts of Korean businesses in China and a halt to most tourism to South Korea. Hyundai and Kia had to close factories in China, South Korean products disappeared from the shops and cultural events including concerts by K-pop stars were cancelled.
The de facto boycott remained in place for about a year, during which time it cost South Korea’s economy an estimated $7.5 billion. China remains South Korea’s biggest trading partner by far, accounting for about a quarter of all Korean exports.
China’s foreign ministry said this week that its opposition to the deployment of Thaad remained unchanged, although the spokesperson did not say whether Beijing would take any action when the batteries moved to the Middle East return to South Korea. The question might be academic, because when the US deployed an infantry brigade from South Korea to Iraq in 2004, it never came back.
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