Russian official raps THAAD deployment in South Korea

North Korea fired four missiles into the sea off Japan’s northwest coast on Monday, angering South Korea and Japan with the latest in a series of ballistic missile and nuclear tests in defiance of United Nations resolutions in recent months.

He also said South Korea is making a mistake in deploying the United States anti-missile defence system THAAD, which he said undermined China’s security.

“China is opposed to the DPRK’s launches in violation of the UN Security Council resolutions”, foreign ministry spokesman Geng Shuang told a regular press briefing, using the initials of the North’s formal name.

The US Pacific Command announced on Monday that Americans had begun deploying the so-called Terminal High Altitude Defense System (THAAD).

The US has again sought to reassure Beijing that the deployment of an extensive missile defence system in South Korea is not a threat to China. -South Korea military exercises were aimed at conducting a “pre-emptive nuclear attack” against Pyongyang.

The U.S. has responded to this aggression, setting up its advanced anti-missile defense system in South Korea, Reuters reported Tuesday.

Acknowledging that USA efforts to curtail North Korea’s nuclear ambitions have failed, Secretary of State Rex Tillerson will use a trip to Asia next week to look at new ways of approaching a problem that has vexed American presidents since Bill Clinton.

The United States, Japan and South Korea strongly condemned the launches – the second to strike since President Donald Trump took office.

After a closed-door meeting of the UN Security Council, US Ambassador Nikki Haley said North Korea’s actions called for a different response.

Such defenses include the planned deployment to South Korea of a missile-defense system called THAAD.

The North hates the military drills, which run until late April and which analysts say force its impoverished military to respond with expensive deployments and drills.

Toner spoke days before Tillerson departs for Japan, South Korea and China to meet top leaders.

They were launched from the Tongchang-ri region near the reclusive North’s border with China, according to South Korean military spokesman Roh Jae-cheon. China believes that the system could reach into its territory and thus threaten its security interests.

It is unlikely, though, that there is anything North Korea will accept in exchange for deescalation.

“We are firmly opposed to the deployment of THAAD in the Republic of Korea by the U.S. and the ROK”, foreign ministry spokesman Geng Shuang told reporters at a regular press briefing in Beijing.