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By Donald Kirk
The heavens far above the stratosphere may be the battleground in Star Sars against North Korea's vaunted hypersonic cruise missiles. The U.S. command showed off its high-flying answer to attacks from the North while U.S. and South Korean forces were winding up their first full-scale joint war games in six years.
The exercise, for Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD), fortified the South Korea-U.S. alliance at a time when North Korea is escalating its missile tests. The North has loudly rejected calls to give up its nukes, investing its resources into fabricating more of them while sinking deeper into poverty and hunger reminiscent of the famine of the 1990s in which nearly 2 million people died from hunger and disease.
In never-ending trials of military strength on the Korean Peninsula, the THAAD display left no doubt that one decisive factor in a second Korean War may be which side has the sharpest, strongest missiles ― and the ability to shoot them down.
The most fearsome missiles in South Korea may belong to the THAAD unit on a former golf course 220 kilometers south of Seoul. Intended for the defense of the southern tier of South Korea, including the sprawling port complex of Busan, it's primed for shooting down enemy missiles within 200 kilometers at altitudes as high as 150 kilometer. Patriot missiles, with far shorter ranges, defend Seoul, Incheon and the huge headquarters base at Camp Humphreys, 55 kilometers south of the capital.
North Korea has yet to stage its seventh underground nuclear test, its first since 2017, but leader Kim Jong-un, since inheriting power from his father Kim Jong-il in 2011, has ordered more than 200 missile tests, including those of intercontinental ballistic missiles capable of reaching North America. It was to combat these threats that the U.S. command for the first time deployed the "remote" launcher at the base.
It's conceivable that American and South Korean commanders will feel better defended with a second THAAD base covering the capital region. Regardless, we have to be ready for star wars. That's why the U.S. Space Force, established several years ago as a separate branch of the armed forces, has stationed its first overseas unit at Osan Air Base near Camp Humphreys.
The North Korean missiles may have the explosive power and accuracy for carrying warheads to targets near and far, but deployment of the launcher warned that a missile attack on the South would provoke an immediate response. Simultaneously, American and South Korean jet fighters showed they too would be ready to inflict retaliatory strikes on North Korea launch sites.
The U.S. command publicized the launcher while North Korea was boasting of multiple tests of drones and cruise missiles for nuclear attacks. Did the Americans want the North Koreans to know they were ready for them? Why else release photographs of the THAAD launcher laden with missiles? There was no attempt at covering up the exercise other than what may be the most top-secret part ― the radar that's able to detect enemy missiles when fired and follow their trajectory.
The North claimed to have created a "radioactive tsunami" by launching missiles "tipped with a test warhead simulating a nuclear warhead." What were they talking about ― a real tsunami or a few waves or ripples in the sea? The North Korean media said the exercise was "to alert the enemy to an actual nuclear crisis and verify the reliability of the nuclear force," but it's hard to take their rhetoric literally or seriously.
One reason for the THAAD exercise was to convince often skeptical South Koreans of the need for this form of defense, the target of sometimes violent protests. The base has also inspired bitter recriminations from China, which banned a number of South Korean companies from operating in China after the first THAAD missiles and launchers were implanted nearly six years ago.
The Chinese claim the radar that's intrinsic to THAAD was directed at their own military activities. THAAD can "see" from 870 to 3,000 kilometers, according to a study by the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington. The Americans, of course, insist they're only watching North Korea, but who's to say they don't also have their eyes on China?
It was to make sure nobody missed the point that U.S. Forces Korea released images of the launch exercise, declaring it had "enhanced the units' combat readiness" and "defense posture." The statement made clear the value of the base in the new era when Star Wars may decide the fate of billions down below.
Donald Kirk, www.donaldkirk.com, writes from Seoul as well as Washington.
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