Seoul says North Korean soldier crosses the border to defect

The new deployment site for the Terminal High-Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) system has been finalized as the Lotte Skyhill Seongju Country Club; a golf course owned by one South Korea’s major conglomerates (chaebols) in Gyeongsangbuk-do Province, it was announced on Friday.

Around 900 South Koreans shaved their heads in August to protest against their government’s decision to place the missile defense system in the southeastern county of Seongju.

A further ministry statement made clear “the government is determined to finish the THAAD installation within the next year without fail to better protect the security of the country and life of its people from the evolving nuclear and missile threats from North Korea”.

The defection came as tension has been high on the Korean peninsula since the North conducted nuclear and missile tests this year in defiance of global sanctions.

Ever since North Korea tested its fifth – and most powerful – nuclear device earlier this month, the worldwide community has been waiting for a response from the United States Security Council (UNSC).

Meanwhile, South Korean President Park Geun Hye has called on North Koreans to abandon their country and defect, just a day after a soldier walked across the heavily fortified border into the South.

But the plan has angered China, concerned THAAD’s powerful radar would compromise its security and do nothing to reduce tensions on the Korean Peninsula.

“The deployment of THAAD batteries, which will become a link in the American missile defense system, will provoke a harsh response from China and Russian Federation”.

This undated picture released from North Korea’s official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) on September 6, 2016 shows the fire drill of ballistic rockets by Hwasong artillery units of the KPA Strategic Force at an undisclosed location in North Korea.

China is North Korea’s most important diplomatic and economic partner, but Beijing has been infuriated by its nuclear and missile tests and has signed up for United Nations sanctions against Pyongyang.

In other words, China will not cooperate with the U.S.in containing North Korea’s nuclear ambitions if the USA does not cancel its plans to deploy Thaad in South Korea.

“The United States deploying THAAD in South Korea not only does not serve the purposes it seeks, it also affects the security in the region as well as China’s”, Geng said. South Korea’s military said Thursday that a North Korean soldier had.

They formed a Gimcheon committee for THAAD opposition, having claimed that the site change would represent the negligence of Gimcheon citizens as the adjustment came from strong oppositions by Seongju residents.