South Korean President upset at the sudden appearance of secret US missile launchers

South Korean President Moon Jae-in has called for an investigation into the mysterious appearance of four THAAD missile launchers that were previously undisclosed.

The placement of America’s THAAD anti-missile defence system in South Korea has angered many in South Korea, including those who voted for Moon as a kind of protest against the right-wing rule of his impeached predecessor Park Geun-hye. It was Park who agreed to have the US install their systems in the country.

South Korean Presidential spokesman Yoon Young-chan has stated,

“President Moon ordered to find out how the four additional rocket launchers were brought into the country, who made such a decision, why this has not been disclosed to the people and why this has not been reported to the new administration even to date”.

He continued,

“President Moon ordered his senior secretary for civil affairs and the NSO chief to find the truth behind the secret entry of the four rocket launchers”.

This is yet another example of how the debates over North Korea tend to totally ignore the changing political climate in South Korea. More and more citizens of the South are opposed to the unilateral militarism of the United States that successive North Korean regimes have adopted with only a few notable cessations, most prominently during the so-called Sunshine Policy period of Kim Dae-jung’s Presidency from 1998 to 2003.

Current South Korean President Moon Jae-in is seen by many as a follower of the traditions of the Sunshine Policy. This attitude runs contrary to the pronouncements of the US and Japan who both seem more keen than ever to exercise a hard-line stance against Pyongyang.

While the US desires the nearly impossible dream of regime change in Pyongyang, they are treating their ‘allies’ in Seoul as mere colonials.