US Army chief to visit S. Korea on THAAD

Seongju residents, many of them farmers cultivating a melon variety that has brought the county domestic fame, sat in somber silence as they had their heads shaved while a protest leader led a crowd in chants of “No THAAD!”

He explains that THAAD battery will consist of an anti-missile radar, six launchers, 48 interceptor missiles, a control room and a power generator.

The Hyunmoo-2A and 2B ballistic missiles and Hyunmoo-3 cruise missiles, weapons independently produced by South Korea, will be deployed in larger numbers around the country, reported the Donga Ilbo.

The missile that landed in the Sea of Japan was launched at about 7:50am Seoul time (2250 GMT Tuesday) from a region in South Hwanghae province to the southwest of the capital, Pyongyang, South Korea’s Office of the Joint Chiefs of Staff said in a statement. “We residents gathered here and shaved heads to demonstrate against its deployment”.

The South Korean president, in her speech Monday, asked critics of the plan to deploy THAAD to present an alternative: “If there is another way to protect our country and people, the alternative must be presented”, she said.

The Terminal High Altitude Area Defence (THAAD) system is to be deployed in Seonjgu, in the south east of the country, the move is in response to North Korea’s repeated missile test launches.

Activists believe the plan will force China, Russia and North Korea into closer alliance adding to the already tense atmosphere in the Asia-Pacific as Japan and Seoul, backed by the USA and Australia continue to criticise Pyongyang and Beijing.

Beijing views the deployment as a U.S. move against its own national security interests and a threat to regional stability.

THAAD “is a defensive measure to protect South Koreans and Americans from the North Korean ballistic missile threat and is not a threat in any way to China”, the statement paraphrased Gen Milley as saying.

Pyongyang also said in the statement issued on Uriminzokkiri, a propaganda outlet targeting South Koreans, its nuclear weapons are not meant to divide the Korean people, and that its development is “benefiting the South Koreans”.

While Seoul said they fled voluntarily, Pyongyang claimed they were kidnapped by South Korea’s National Intelligence Service (NIS) and waged a vocal campaign through its state media for their immediate return.