▲ Chinese Ambassador to Korea Xing Haiming


The government asked Chinese Ambassador to South Korea Xing Haiming, who publicly refuted former Prosecutor General Yoon Seok-yeol's position on the deployment of the THAAD (high-altitude missile defense system), to speak cautiously.



An official from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said today (17th), "It is necessary to be careful not to negatively affect the development of bilateral relations when a foreign diplomatic mission publicly expresses the position of a politician in the host country."



This is the position of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs regarding 'Rebuttal to Yoon Seok-Yeol's interview' that Ambassador Singh posted in JoongAng Ilbo yesterday.



In an interview with the media on the 15th, former President Yoon ordered 'horizontal relations with the public' and insisted, "If (China) wants to insist on withdrawing the THAAD deployment, it must first withdraw the long-range radars deployed near its borders."



In response, Ambassador Xing argued in an article that China's radar did not pose a threat to South Korea and that the THAAD deployed during the Park Geun-hye administration harmed China's security interests and the strategic mutual trust between the two countries.



Controversy arose over whether China was trying to intervene in the presidential election in response to the opposition's rebuttal, and National Power Rep. Park Jin urged the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to "confirm whether it is China's official position and protest".



The Ministry of Foreign Affairs judged that a foreign ambassador's response to the remarks of a politician who is not a South Korean government official and causing controversy would not be conducive to the development of bilateral relations, and delivered this position to the Chinese embassy in Korea.



Chinese diplomats are known to engage in so-called 'war-warrior (wolf warrior) diplomacy' to aggressively respond to criticism of their country.



Regarding this issue, an official from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs reaffirmed that "the South Korean government's position on the deployment of THAAD has not changed."



The government is of the view that the THAAD system deployed in South Korea does not target third countries and does not harm China's strategic security interests according to the original deployment purpose of responding to North Korean nuclear and missile threats.



(Photo = Yonhap News)