The official statement published on the website of Korean Central News Agency, a North Korean state-run media outlet, came amid intense speculations on the possible deployment of a Terminal High-Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) battery on South Korean territory. The battery is meant to protect Seoul from the potential missile threat from Pyongyang. However, according to Yonhap, a South Korean media source, Seoul has not yet negotiated the agreement on the installation of a missile defense system with Washington.
The DPRK Foreign Ministry pointed out that the projected THAAD deployment was a part of Washington's strategy aimed at forming the US-Japan-South Korea "triangular military alliance," the Asian version of NATO. Furthermore, the THAAD battery on the peninsula would become an element of Washington's comprehensive global missile defense system.
"If THAAD is deployed in South Korea, that would establish a new Cold War structure in Northeast Asia and the peninsula would again be exposed to the danger of being reduced to the theatre of a war of big powers," the statement read.
China has also repeatedly expressed its concerns regarding the US missile system’s deployment in South Korea, citing security issues. In response, Seoul insists that no official decision has yet been made on the THAAD installation. However, according to South Korean media sources, Gen. Martin Dempsey, chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff who has just arrived in Seoul, may raise the issue of the THAAD during his official meeting with his South Korean counterparts.
