Politics, Asia - Pacific

China at heart of rift in SKorean politics

South Korean conservative party condemns planned visit by lawmakers opposed to US missile defense system to China this week

06.08.2016 - Update : 08.08.2016
China at heart of rift in SKorean politics

Seoul-t ukpyolsi

By Alex Jensen

SEOUL

South Korea’s ruling Saenuri Party accused opposition lawmakers Saturday of “playing into the hands” of Beijing, ahead of a planned trip by six members of the left-leaning Minjoo Party to China.

The scheduled three-day visit by the Minjoo lawmakers from Monday comes as Seoul and Beijing have been at odds over an American missile defense system, Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD), which is to be deployed in South Korea by the end of next year.

Chinese state media provoked anger by going so far this week as to caution that in case of a clash with the United States, South Korea would be the “first military target”.

Nearly 30,000 American troops are stationed in the South as a legacy of the 1950-53 Korean War, during which China fought on the side of the North -- the official line from Seoul and Washington is that THAAD is a response to Pyongyang’s ongoing missile development.

As well as facing opposition from China and North Korea, South Korea’s government has been embroiled in efforts to allay concerns at home regarding THAAD’s possible negative impact.

“The visit planned by the six first-term lawmakers is an act that benefits China which objects to the THAAD deployment,” Saenuri spokesperson Ji Sang-wuk was quoted as saying by local news agency Yonhap.

“Who in the world are they? Lawmakers for South Korea or civic activists?”

But the trip’s organizer Kim Young-ho apparently responded by insisting that they will go ahead as planned, aiming to meet with academic experts in an unofficial capacity.

The group is gaining sympathy in China, where the Global Times newspaper highlighted the visit by “anti-THAAD lawmakers” as a front-page story Saturday.

South Korean Foreign Minister Yun Byung-se told reporters a day earlier “the government is keeping a close watch on the recent response from Chinese media related to THAAD.”

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