29 July 2017

News Story: S. Korea to make final decision on THAAD after general green audit

THAAD Interceptor test launch
SEOUL, July 28 (Xinhua) -- The new South Korean government under President Moon Jae-in, who took office in early May, announced a plan on Friday to make a final decision on the U.S. Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) deployment after a "general" environmental impact assessment on the THAAD site.

According to the Defense Ministry, the final decision on the U.S. missile defense system installation in the country's southeast region will be made after the general assessment of the THAAD's environmental impact on the entire site in accordance with domestic law.

Since December last year, a small-size green audit had been conducted on 328,799 square meters of land of a golf course in Seongju county, North Gyeongsang province. The results of the audit, which had already been completed, were submitted Monday to the environment ministry, according to local media reports.

The South Korean military won the former golf course of 1.48 million square meters in February from Lotte Group, the country's fifth-biggest conglomerate, in exchange for offering military land near the capital Seoul.

AN/TPY-2 radar for THAAD
The military had allegedly planned to provide some 700,000 square meters of land for the THAAD deployment, but the offering process was divided into two phases to avoid the large-size, general green audit.

By domestic law, the military land provision of less than 330,000 square meters is allowed to receive a small-sized green audit.

The Blue House of President Moon, who took office on May 10, ordered an another green audit in accordance with domestic law, revealing the offering process of land was divided into two phases.

Read the full story at Xinhua