S. Korea－U.S. holding high－level military talks in Seoul 한미 합참의장 대담...사드 배치 여부
Our top story this afternoon... The Chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff， Martin Dempsey， is locked in talks with senior South Korean military and defense officials in Seoul today. The top U.S. military officer is currently at South Korea′s Joint Chiefs of Staff... where he has been discussing security matters... with his South Korean counterpart Choi Yoon－hee. For more details，... we connect live to Kim Hyun－bin at the Ministry of National Defense in Seoul. Hyun－bin？ Hey guys... General Dempsey has been in talks with Choi Yoon－hee this morning，... but as yet，... we don′t have any information about what they discussed. However，... prior to their meeting， Seoul′s Joint Chiefs of Staff said the agenda would focus on pending issues， such as North Korea′s increasing nuclear and missile threat， and the transfer of wartime operations control from Washington to Seoul. Dempsey is due to to meet with South Korea′s Defense Minister Han Min－Koo after lunch at around 1：30PM，... so about 90 minutes from now. There′s been a lot of talk that the two military chiefs would have discussed the possible deployment of a U.S. missile defense system called THAAD... to the Korean peninsula. Any updates？ Well，... defense ministry officials here have been stressing that this issue is not on the agenda，... but it may have come up in passing. Hopefully we′ll have some more information soon. But... earlier this week， before heading to Japan，...the first stop of his Asia tour，... Dempsey said one of the key topics on the agenda in Seoul is building an integrated air and missile defense system. Many people took that to mean that he wanted to discuss the possible deployment of THAAD to the Korean peninsula. Numerous current and former U.S. officials and expert are pushing for the deployment of THAAD to South Korea. They say... it would deter North Korean missile and nuclear threats and better ensure the safety of around 28 thousand American troops stationed here. The U.S. says... the THAAD deployment is strictly aimed at better countering North Korea′s missile and nuclear threats. If that is the case，... why are regional powers such as China and Russia strongly against the move and what are South Korea′s concerns？ South Korea is playing its cards close to its chest because China and Russia are deeply against the deployment. You can understand their concerns， as it would set up a U.S. nuclear and missile umbrella that would be able to shoot down missiles from anywhere in the region. Additionally， THAAD′s radar system， which has a range of up to two thousand kilometers， would be able to monitor large parts of the Chinese mainland. Now，... South Korea′s main concern may be the sheer cost of this system. THAAD is a multi－billion dollar defense system and Seoul is unwilling to shoulder the cost of having it here，... especially as it′s developing its own missile defense system called the Korea Air and Missile Defense. That′s all I have at the moment b
