The Korea Herald

피터빈트

S. Korea did not receive THAAD information from Lockheed Martin: ministry

By KH디지털2

Published : April 2, 2015 - 11:42

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South Korea has not received any detailed information from the U.S. defense company Lockheed Martin Corp. on the firm's advanced missile defense battery, the defense ministry here said Thursday.

Reuters reported on Monday that Lockheed Martin "has provided information to South Korea and the U.S. government to support a possible sale of its Terminal High Altitude Area Defense system," citing Lockheed Martin's senior manager for international air and missile business development, Dan Garcia.

THAAD has been a focus of attention in South Korea, as Washington has expressed its willingness to deploy one here, which has sparked concerns and opposition from neighbors, mainly China and Russia.

"Our government has not received relevant, detailed information (from Lockheed Martin)," the defense ministry's vice spokesman Nah Seung-yong said at a regular briefing. 

"We had two cases back in 2013. Lockheed made a presentation about THAAD during an Air Force seminar in Seoul. And (South Korea's) Defense Acquisition Program Administration asked the firm for some data on THAAD for its research and development of the long-range surface-to-air missiles, L-SAM, but it got nothing," he added.

Denying Garcia's comments, a senior Seoul government official also said South Korea "has not even made any decision on the possible deployment."

Dan Garcia has not been available for what he meant by the comments to Reuters.

THAAD is designed to shoot down short, medium and intermediate ballistic missiles at a higher altitude in their terminal phase using a hit-to-kill method. (Yonhap)