U.S. Forces Korea installed a Terminal High Altitude Area Defense system in South Korea in March 2017. (U.S. Air Force)
All six Terminal High Altitude Area Defense missile system launchers belonging to U.S. Forces Korea have returned to their home base in the southeastern county of Seongju, South Korea, according to a Yonhap News Agency report.
The THAAD launchers were returned to the U.S. military installation in Seongju, roughly 134 miles southeast of Seoul, Yonhap reported Sunday, citing unnamed sources. The launchers were temporarily relocated in March to Osan Air Base in Pyeongtaek amid heightened tensions in the Middle East, the agency reported.
USFK spokesman Choi Min-jung declined comment on the report by email Monday, saying the command does not comment on “specific force movements, capabilities, or operational matters” for security reasons.
THAAD, a missile defense system designed to intercept ballistic missiles, was deployed in 2017 to Seongju as part of Washington’s efforts to defend South Korea and U.S. forces against North Korean missile threats.
The launchers’ relocation in March fueled speculation that USFK was preparing to transfer THAAD to the Middle East to support the U.S. conflict in Iran, according to the Yonhap report.
On March 6, an unnamed U.S. official told The Wall Street Journal that the Pentagon was rushing to replace a THAAD radar damaged in an Iranian-backed drone strike in Jordan.
Four days later The Washington Post reported that the Pentagon was moving THAAD system components from South Korea to the Middle East.
However, USFK Commander Gen. Xavier Brunson told the Senate Armed Services Committee on April 21 that no THAAD systems were moved off the Korean Peninsula and that the command was sending munitions forward, according to a YouTube video of his testimony.
Brunson said he was “dynamically moving” the launchers around and acknowledged that “caused a big kerfuffle on the peninsula.”
