The planned U.S. deployment of the THAAD anti-missile system in South Korea is not negotiable as part of efforts to agree new U.N. sanctions on North Korea after its fifth nuclear test, but Washington is confident tougher steps will be agreed before long, the senior U.S. diplomat for Asia said Friday.
China, whose full backing is widely seen as crucial for sanctions on North Korea to be effective, is strongly opposed to the deployment of the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) system and some experts have argued it should be part of talks on new U.N. measures.
Asked whether THAAD was negotiable, Daniel Russel, the U.S. assistant secretary of state for East Asia, referred to a U.S.-South Korean agreement on the deployment.