Seoul-North Korea launched a ballistic missile on Wednesday that landed in or near Japanese-controlled waters for the first time, the latest in a series of launches by the isolated country in defiance of United Nations Security Council resolutions.
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A decision by the United States and South Korea to deploy an advanced anti-missile defence system is aimed at defending against North Korea’s missile threat and does not threaten China, a senior USA officer said in Beijing on Tuesday (Aug 16).
“This is no more than nonsense talked by a psychopath”, he added in a statement carried by the North’s official KCNA news agency.
Chinese state media have published daily attacks against the US and South Korea over the missile defence system and China has cancelled events involving South Korean entertainers.
The launch showed North Korean ambition to “directly and broadly attack neighbouring countries and target several places in the Republic of Korea such as ports and airfields”, the statement said, referring to South Korea by its official title.
US Army Chief of Staff General Mark Milley met his Chinese counterpart Li Zuocheng and other senior People’s Liberation Army leaders in Beijing on Tuesday amid strong Chinese protests over the decision to deploy the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) unit in Seoul.
THAAD is “not a threat in any way to China”, Milley told Li according to a US Army statement.
Milley is also due to travel to South Korea to meet with U.S. troops and hold discussions with South Korean military leaders on the THAAD deployment and other issues.
Last month, the United States and South Korea made a decision to have a THAAD battery in the country.
China has objected strenuously to a decision to base the U.S. Terminal High Altitude Area Defense, or THAAD, system south of the South Korean capital Seoul, believing it’s X-Band radar is meant to track missiles inside China.
Han began by apologising for the lack of prior notice regarding the planned deployment but stressed that defending the South against North Korean aggression was the ultimate priority.
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More than 900 Seongju residents had their heads shaved on Monday as a mark of protest, and many of those were among the demonstrators who greeted Han with anti-THAAD slogans and demands to scrap the deployment.
