Washington is considering relocating advanced missile defence systems stationed in South Korea to the Middle East as its military campaign against Iran stretches on, raising concerns in Seoul over the potential impact on the Korean peninsula’s security posture.

In an interview with The New York Times on March 1 local time, US President Donald Trump is reported as saying that the operation against Iran, was expected to last between four and five weeks. As a result, analysts cited by South Korea’s The Chosun Daily suggest that if US air strikes extend beyond that timeframe, American military assets and personnel based in South Korea could be drawn into the conflict.

Defence specialists say air defence systems operated by United States Forces Korea, including Patriot interceptors and the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense system, or THAAD, could be candidates for redeployment but surveillance and reconnaissance platforms are also under discussion. These would include the MQ-9 Reaper unmanned aerial vehicles permanently stationed at Gunsan Air Base since last year.

Attention is also focused on the THAAD battery deployed in Seongju, North Gyeongsang Province in South Korea. According to the Financial Times, citing a US military official shortly before the outbreak of hostilities, as many as 150 THAAD interceptors were expended during last year’s 12-day war between Israel and Iran.

Meanwhile, Shin Jong-woo, secretary-general of the Korea Defence Research Forum, has said that an extended air campaign would probably prompt Washington to draw on USFK combat power and assets. The Chosun Daily adds that Im Cheol-gyun, a senior research fellow at the Korea Research Institute for Strategy, warned that any transfer of air defence systems could pose significant challenges for South Korea, which continues to face ballistic missile threats from North Korea.

The redeployment of missiles from the Asian theatre would also cause alarm bells to ring in Japan and Taiwan.