Special probe on THAAD report failure concludes; U.S. Missile Defense chief visits Seoul's NSC chief

청와대 국방부 정책실장 사드 보고 삭제 지시 결론... 미 미사일 방어청장 정의용 실장 예방 The nation's top office conducted a special probe over an omission in a report by the defense ministry to the president. Whether the fact that additional THAAD launchers were stored in the nation was deliberately left out. We have the result of that investigation from Cheongwadae. Our Moon Connyoung starts us off. "The first draft of the defense ministry report clearly states the storage location of six THAAD system launchers including the four that had been brought in additionally." South Korea's presidential Blue Office confirmed that the nation's defense ministry officials deliberately dropped mentioning that four more launchers had been deployed for the controversial U.S. THAAD missile defense system in their report to the new administration. "We have found that Wee Seung-ho, deputy defense minister for policy, had ordered that that statement be deleted from the report before being submitted to the de facto power transition team." Wee acknowledged giving such order and apparently told the top office that he made the judgment based on an agreement of confidentiality over THAAD between South Korea and the U.S. That, obviously, he said, does not apply to the Commander-in-Chief of the nation. Wee has been relieved of duty and further investigation will be launched to unveil other defense ministry officials implicated in the case. Although Mr. Moon had clarified from the get-go of the special probe that the measure was purely domestic in nature and that it's not intended to give off any message to the United States, there had been concerns that the latest measure could start the two fairly new administrations off on the wrong foot. In what appears to be efforts to narrow their differences, U.S. Missile Defense Agency chief Vice Admiral James Syring and chief of U.S. Forces Korea and Combined Forces Command General Vincent Brooks met with Seoul's NSC chief Chung Eui-yong at the top office on Monday. During the meeting, Washington's top military personnel explained in detail the current state of the missile shield system to which Seoul's security chief expressed gratitude. "Chung clarified that South Korea current review of the system is to secure democratic and procedural legitimacy for the deployment within this country and the American side reiterated Washington's stance that it understands and trusts the Moon government's position. The meeting today appears to have been crucial to reaffirming the South Korea, U.S. alliance as the two new administrations ready themselves for the first bilateral summit later this month. Moon Connyoung, Arirang News. Visit ‘Arirang News’ Official Pages Facebook(NEWS): http://www.facebook.com/newsarirang Homepage: http://www.arirang.com Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/arirangtv Twitter: http://twitter.com/arirangworld Instagram: http://instagram.com/arirangworld