China and Russia seem united in opposing the deployment of the American missile defense system called THAAD, even though Seoul and Washington are already deep in discussions on the matter.<br />For details, we turn to Kim Hyun-bin.<br /><br />Senior Russian and Chinese officials shared their concerns about the possible deployment of a THAAD battery to the Korean peninsula.<br />According to China's Xinhua news agency on Tuesday,... the talks, which took place Monday, were led by Russia's Deputy Foreign Minister Igor Morgulov and China's Assistant Foreign Minister Kong Xuanyou.<br />The two expressed their firm opposition to the deployment, saying the system could undermine the strategic balance in the region.<br /><br />South Korea says the deployment is based on its national security interests to better defend against North Korea's nuclear and missile threats.<br />In an interview with CNN on Monday, South Korean Defense Minister Han Min-koo said the THAAD deployment would drastically increase Seoul and Washington's capacity to counter North Korea's missile threats.<br />In addition, the Pentagon said Monday South Korea and the United States have made considerable progress in their negotiations on the deployment.<br />Spokesman Peter Cook said the two allies just have an unspecified number of complicated issues to iron out.<br />Sources in Seoul say the two governments are already discussing possible candidate sites in South Korea.<br />There's speculation an official announcement could be made during the annual South Korea-U.S. defense ministers' meeting in Washington in October.<br />Kim Hyun-bin, Arirang News.
