Overview
- Yonhap photos released Sunday show all six truck-mounted THAAD launchers back at the Seongju installation after they were temporarily relocated to Osan in March.
- U.S. Forces Korea declined to confirm the movement, saying it does not comment on specific troop or asset movements for operational security.
- Gen. Xavier Brunson told the Senate in April that no THAAD system had been moved off the Korean Peninsula and that munitions were being sent forward, a distinction officials have repeatedly emphasized.
- U.S. media reports in March, citing unnamed officials, said the Pentagon rushed to replace a radar damaged in Jordan and moved THAAD components, which prompted speculation about sending interceptors to the Middle East.
- THAAD is made up of radar, fire-control elements and six launchers and has defended the peninsula since 2017; uncertainty about whether the launchers are fully reloaded could affect short-term missile-defense readiness for people in South Korea and for U.S. forces there.