South Korean minister says 'no evidence' that China retaliated over US Thaad deployment

South Korea's Finance Minister Yoo Il-ho has ruled out taking action against China yet, saying he has no strong evidence to prove that Beijing retaliated over Seoul's deployment of a US anti-missile defence system in its country.

"If we want to take this into court, we have to have evidence but we don't have that yet so we cannot take action," Yoo told reporters on Monday, 13 March. "It's not as if we are standing still with the evidence in hand."

However, he added that his government would "confidently" take action against Beijing if required.

In the recent past, experts and the state media in China have been suggesting that the government take several decisions like refusing to allow South Korean airlines to expand charter flight services between the two countries and restricting the flow of tourists, speculated to be in retaliation over the deployment of Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (Thaad).

While Beijing has not explicitly declared that it is targeting South Korean businesses, it has put pressure on firms doing business with and in the South.

The US started deploying Thaad in South Korea on 6 March in order to counter North Korea's increasing aggression in the region. However, China has been strongly condemning the move, officially calling it a "wrong choice" that will make the country less secure.

The Chinese version of the influential state-run tabloid, The Global Times, once even suggested that South Korean cars and mobile phones should be targeted to stop Seoul from pursuing its Thaad ambition.

While South Korea and the US say the Thaad is not meant to target any other country, China says the powerful radar of the defence system is capable of penetrating its territories. It feels Thaad would pose threats to its own security and not help reduce tensions in the Korean Peninsula.