Foreign Ministry slams US-Korean THAAD deployment

A Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) interceptor is launched during a successful intercept test, in this undated handout photo provided by the US Department of Defense, Missile Defense Agency. [Photo/Agencies]

The Chinese Foreign Ministry has expressed strong dissatisfaction and firm opposition to the deployment of an advanced US missile-defense system in the Korean Peninsula.

The ministry's statement was released today, immediately after the Republic of Korea's defense ministry announced it had agreed with the United States to deploy the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) system.

The system's deployment will do no good to the goal of denuclearization on the Korean Peninsula and it is harmful to maintaining peace and stability on the peninsula, the statement said.

The deployment goes against the efforts of all parties to resolve the issue through peaceful dialogue, and that it will seriously harm China's strategic security interests and regional strategic balance.

China has urged the US and ROK to stop the process of deploying the THAAD system, not to take actions that could make the regional situation more complicate, and not to do anything that could harm China's strategic security interests.

On June 29，President Xi Jinping urged the Republic of Korea to handle the possible deployment of an advanced US missile-defense system in a "prudent and proper" manner, as he met on Wednesday with ROK Prime Minister Hwang Kyo-ahn.

The ROK should pay attention to China's legitimate security concerns over the deployment of THAAD, Xi said.

China and the ROK should be dedicated to denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula, to jointly maintaining the peace and stability of the peninsula, and to pushing forward the parties concerned to resolve problems through peaceful dialogue, Xi said.