[Yonhap News Photo]
The United States hopes to deploy the THAAD missile defense system to South Korea as quickly as possible, the Pentagon said Monday, after the US military commander in South Korea said it would take about eight to 10 months to place the system.
General Vincent Brooks, commander of US Forces Korea, said in a seminar last week that THAAD will "come in the next eight to 10 months" and the unit will be "a larger configuration than the one in Guam".
At a regular Pentagon briefing, press secretary Peter Cook said: "This is something we continue to work closely with the South Korean government. We want to do this as quickly as possible. General Brooks, I know, referenced a time period. We'd like to do it as soon as possible."
He declined to discuss the size of the unit and other details.
"We believe that the THAAD system that will be deployed will be capable of helping to defend South Korea -- our ally, South Korea, as part of a significant number of defensive steps that we can take to help protect South Korea, of course, and also protect the United States at the same time," Cook said.
(Yonhap)
reporter
Park Sae-jin
swatchsjp@ajunews.com
