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Russian envoy to Seoul expresses opposition to THAAD deployment

Xinhua, February 2, 2016 Adjust font size:

Russian Ambassador to South Korea Alexander Timonin expressed opposition Tuesday to possible deployment of a U.S. missile defense system, called Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD), on the Korean peninsula.

Timonin told local reporters in his embassy that the THAAD deployment will neither lend any help to peace and stability in Northeast Asia, nor any benefit to resolve nuclear issue on the peninsula, local media reports showed.

The ambassador called for all relevant parties to exercise restraint, especially in military areas, in order to prevent any acts that can worsen regional situations.

His comments came amid rising calls here for the THAAD deployment after the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK)'s fourth nuclear test in early January. The DPRK claimed on Jan. 6 that it tested its first H-bomb.

Seoul's defense ministry said during a regular press briefing Monday that overlapping operations of the THAAD and its indigenous missile defense system would help defend South Korea against the DPRK's nuclear and missile threats.

It was a repetition of the ministry's position expressed last Friday, marking a sharp turn from its earlier stance that it can cover Pyongyang's nuclear and missile threats with its own missile defense system, called the Korea Air and Missile Defense (KAMD), which is now being developed.

Timonin said that he was seeing a rising number of contacts between agencies of Seoul and Washington relevant to the issue, expressing his hope that the THAAD deployment would not have a negative impact on ties between Seoul and Moscow. His remarks indicated a negative effect of the THAAD introduction on the bilateral relations.

Regarding penalties against the DPRK's fourth nuclear test, Timonin said that six-party talks are the most effective way to resolve the peninsula's nuclear issue, noting that Russia has almost the same opinion as China over ways and tools of resolving the peninsula's nuclear issue.

He said Russia has always opposed, and now opposes, bilateral sanctions on the DPRK, though Moscow joined UN Security Council resolutions, because bilateral sanctions can cause more severe isolation of the DPRK and may have a negative effect on the nuclear issue resolution.

The six-party talks, which involves South Korea, the DPRK, China, the United States, Russia and Japan, has been suspended since late 2008. Enditem