US missile shield brought into golf course in unnoticed pre-dawn operation

By Park Sae-jin Posted : April 26, 2017, 09:15 Updated : April 26, 2017, 09:15

[Yonhap Photo]


An advanced missile defense system was brought into a tightly guarded golf course Wednesday in an unheralded pre-dawn operation helped by South Korean riot police who sealed off a broad area to secure free access for US troops.

Mobile missile launchers and trailers carrying a radar and other equipment rolled into the site in Seongju, some 200 kilometers (124 miles) southeast of Seoul, after thousand of riot police were deployed to stop any protests.

After the four-hour operation was completed safely, the South's defense ministry confirmed the deployment of a Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) battery, saying it was aimed at putting the system into early operation to cope with growing threats from North Korean nuclear and ballistic missile programs.
 

[Yonhap Photo]


A THAAD battery arrived in South Korea in early March after Lotte, the country's fifth-largest conglomerate, sealed a land swap deal to turn its golf course into a military site controlled by some 28,000 US troops stationed in South Korea under a mutual defense pact.

US military engineers were responsible for transforming the golf course, but their work has been delayed due to political debate and protests by civic groups and local residents who argued their town would be the target of North Korean missile attacks and opposed the THAAD battery for emitting strong electromagnetic waves. The missile shield normally consists of six truck-mounted launchers, 48 interceptors, a fire control and communications unit, and a powerful X-band radar.

Along with health and environmental problems, the missile shield strained relations between Asia's two major economies and triggered China's economic retaliation. Beijing insisted the THAAD system would "seriously" hurt strategic interests of China and other countries as well as the security balance in Northeast Asia, but US President Donald Trump has revealed his strategy to bolster trilateral security ties in Northeast Asia.

Lim Chang-won = cwlim34@ajunews.com

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