SEOUL, June 7 (Xinhua) -- Controversy resurfaced in South Korea over the deployment of an advanced U.S. missile defense system called Terminal High Altitude-Area Defense (THAAD) amid lingering concerns about its effectiveness on the Korean peninsula and conflicts with neighboring countries.
The rekindled controversy came as some U.S. media reported last week that the United States would talk with South Korea about the THAAD deployment on its ally's soil during the bilateral defense ministers' talks on the sidelines of the Asia Security Summit (the Shangri-La Dialogue) held last weekend in Singapore.
Seoul's defense ministry almost immediately responded to the media reports on Friday, denying the THAAD discussion which South Korea's Yonhap news agency described as an unusually swift response in consideration of past cases.
When one Japan-based TV reported on Friday that Seoul and Washington had agreed to deploy the U.S. missile defense system in South Korea's southern city of Daegu sometime in 2017, Seoul's defense ministry spokesman made an almost immediate response in Singapore to say that no decision had been made yet.
Reversing the earlier cautious mode, Minister Han said on Saturday that South Korea has a clear will to deploy the THAAD on the peninsula, stressing its military effectiveness to defend his country from the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK)'s nuclear and missile threats.
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