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South Korea's defense ministry on Friday denied U.S. media reports that Defense Minister Han Min-koo would hold talks with his U.S. counterpart Ash Carter about the deployment of an advanced U.S. missile defense system on the Korean Peninsula during an upcoming bilateral dialogue.
According to South Korea's Yonhap news agency, Carter told U.S. reporters at a flight to Singapore to participate in Asia's regional security meeting that he would discuss the Terminal High- Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) issue during his upcoming talks with Minister Han.
Carter and Han left for Singapore to attend the Shangri-La Dialogue, an annually-held regional security forum in Asia. The two defense chiefs are scheduled to separately hold a bilateral dialogue on Saturday on the sidelines of the meeting.
A senior U.S. defense official reportedly said that the results of the ongoing talks between Seoul and Washington about the possible THAAD deployment will be openly announced soon though many technological problems remain.
The two allies launched a working group in early March to discuss the possible deployment of a THAAD battery on U.S. troops stationed in South Korea.
South Korea's defense ministry denied the U.S. media reports, saying that there is no plan to discuss the THAAD deployment during the South Korea-U.S. defense chiefs' talks in Singapore.
Yonhap said it was very unusual for Seoul's defense ministry to immediately deny the remarks from senior U.S. defense officials.
A senior South Korean government official was quoted by Yonhap as saying that the THAAD deployment issue was not at a stage of imminent announcement as more time is needed to discuss the issue.
