S. Korea, US delay official missile shield talks: Seoul

While Seoul and Washington have reportedly been weighing up enhancing missile defense in South Korea for some time, they began preparations for official negotiations in response to North Korea’s long-range rocket launch earlier this month.

“The U.S. wants North Korea to return to the talks and commit to denuclearization before the removal of sanctions and a peace treaty could be on the table; Pyongyang wants the sanctions to be first removed and a peace treaty negotiated before it is willing to return to the talks”.

North Korea has protested joint U.S.-South Korean exercises, alleging they are rehearsals for a potential invasion. Pyongyang’s primitive nuclear tests are not only exploited by the USA to justify a military presence but could also be used by Japan or South Korea as a pretext for developing their own nuclear weapons.

China’s ambassador to South Korea warned Tuesday that the planned deployment of a USA missile defense system in the country could damage Beijing-Seoul ties, possibly irreparably.

The envoy said the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) system that has been cleared for deployment to South Korea would “greatly undermine” China’s security interests, besides causing instability and a regional arms race.

The US-South Korean military exercises scheduled for next month, though conducted annually, this year will be the largest ever, according to Seoul officials.

Because the sides agreed to an armistice, not a peace treaty, North and South Korea remain in a technical state of war.

North Korea will face “stern punishment” if it ignored Seoul’s warning, it said.

Lee left North Korea permanently in 1999 and gained entry to South Korea in 2000.

Along with restarting the broadcasts, South Korean President Park Geun-hye responded to the North’s nuclear test and launch by shutting down a joint industrial park in Kaesong, a city just north of the DMZ.

While most analysts view North Korea’s provocations as a kind of familiar madness reminiscent of the sable-rattling that Kim’s father and his grandfather indulged in, the drumbeat of increasingly bellicose threats seems to have gotten out of hand.

At the same time, China continues to urge the United States and North Korea to resolve the issue peacefully by returning to the negotiating table. Beiing expressed regret after the South and the US announced the decision to hold THAAD talks.

The announcement came on the same day as China’s Foreign Minister Wang Yi was set to discuss North Korea with US Secretary of State John Kerry during his three-day visit to Washington.