"As Vice President Pence's South Korean visit comes at a very sensitive time… A clear message on joint efforts in terms of the South Korea-U.S. alliance against North Korea will be sent out," the spokesman said, as quoted by the Yonhap news agency, stressing that this will be the first visit by Pence to Asia since taking office.
He added that the "message" would also be made clear on the issue of the US Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) system deployment in South Korea, which has been met with sharp criticism by China, who claim that the ballistic missile defense network will undermine security in Northeast Asia.
The agreement between the United States and South Korea on deploying the THAAD system on South Korean soil was reached in July 2016, with the first components of the system arriving in the country on March 8 in response to North Korea’s ballistic missile tests, part of the deployment began in early March 2017.
