Hostname: page-component-5cf477f64f-tx7qf Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2025-03-25T21:18:24.606Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Moon Jae-In's THAAD Conundrum: South Korea's “candlelight president” faces strong citizen opposition on missile defense

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  14 March 2025

Bridget Martin
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Extract

Apocalyptic panic and glib memes frame much of American discourse about the current North Korean nuclear crisis. Yet the North Korean crisis poses a challenge to the mandate of South Korea's new liberal president, Moon Jaein, to usher in an era of truly democratic politics, and indeed, to the fate of his administration. On the critical issue of US plans to install a terminal high area altitude defense (THAAD) system, an issue that has roiled the waters among South Korea, the United States and China, Moon has chosen to leave intact former conservative president Park Geun-hye administration's undemocratic legacy.

Type
Research Article
Information
Asia-Pacific Journal , Volume 15 , Issue 18 , September 2017 , e3
Copyright
Copyright © The Authors 2017

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Notes

1 “‘Shocked’ S. Korea Leader Moon Orders Probe Into Extra U.S. THAAD Launchers”, Reuters, 30 May, 2017.

2 Beal, Tim “A Korean Tragedy”, The Asia-Pacific Journal: Japan Focus, 15.16, 15 August, 2017.

3 Suh, JJ, “Missile Defense and the Security Dilemma: THAAD, Japan's ‘Proactive Peace,‘ and the Arms Race in Northeast Asia”, The Asia-Pacific Journal: Japan Focus, 15.9, 27 April, 2017.

4 Yang, Heekyong, and Jin, Hyunjoo, “As Missile Row Drags On, South Korea's Lotte Still Stymied in China”, Reuters, 16 June, 2017.

5 Cho, Kye-wan, “In the First Half of 2017, THAAD Retaliation Caused $4.3 Billion in Losses for S. Korean Companies”, The Hankyoreh, 6 July, 2017.

6 Johnson, Jesse, “US Holds Successful THAAD Anti-Missile Test in Bid to Reassure Allies Over Nervous North Korea”, Japan Times, 31 July, 2017.

7 Yi, Yong-in, “Interview: Expert Says THAAD Needlessly Raises Tensions, Hurts Security”, The Hankyoreh, 11 July, 2016.

8 Quoted in Yi, Yong-in, “Former US Defense Secretary Says THAAD Should be Removed if Moon Doesn't Want It”, The Hankyoreh, 15 July, 2017.

9 Elich, Gregory, “Threat to China: Pressure on South Korea to Join US Anti-ballistic Missile System”, Global Research, 1 July, 2014.

10 Jun, Ji-hye, “F-35, KF-X Deals Likely to Get Scrutiny”, The Korea Times, 24 July, 2017.

11 Choe, Sang-hun, “South Korean Villagers Pelt Premier With Eggs Over Missile Site”, New York Times, 15 July, 2016.

12 Park, Jung-yeop, “Gimhanggon Gunsu Jesambuji Suyongttgyeongchal Dongwonhae Seongjugunmin Baesin” [“County Chief Kim Hang-gun's Acquiescence on the Third Deployment Site: Police Mobilize, Seongju Citizens Betrayed], News Min, 22 August, 2016

13 Kim, Nan, “Candlelight and the Yellow Ribbon: Catalyzing Re-Democratization in South Korea” The Asia-Pacific Journal.

14 “South Korean President Frontrunner Moon Regrets Move to Deploy THAAD: Spokesman”, Reuters, 26 April, 2017.

15 Ryang, Sonia, “Reading Volcano Island: In the Sixty-fifth Year of the Jeju 4.3 Uprising,” The Asia-Pacific Journal,

16 The interim government circumvented a full environmental assessment by dividing up the deployment site into several smaller sections, which would taken separately require only minimal environmental assessment prior to THAAD deployment. See Park, Byong-su, “THAAD Deployment Could Slow Down as Pres. Moon Orders Environmental Assessment”, The Hankyoreh, 6 June, 2017.