MOSCOW. March 24 (Interfax-AVN) - The possible placement of elements of the United States-led global missile defense shield in South Korea may seriously complicate the political and military situation and may trigger an arms race in the Asia-Pacific region, Gen. Yury Yakubov, coordinator of the Russian Defense Ministry's general inspectors' department, told Interfax-AVN on Tuesday.
"If the Americans really decide to deploy THAAD (Terminal High Altitude Area Defense) interceptor systems and long-range radars as elements of their global defense shield in the territory of South Korea, all neighboring countries in the Asia-Pacific region will have to respond to the emergence of such a real military threat from the U.S. one way or another. And this situation, for its part, will lead to a new arms race in the region, which already has nuclear weapons," according to Yakubov, who commanded Russia's Far East Military District in 1999-2006.
The Defense Ministry official offered his comments in response to media reports concerning Seoul's debate surrounding the possible deployment of U.S. THAAD interceptors in South Korea.