As the THAAD battery is to be operated by U.S. Forces Korea (USFK), South Koreas military will have no right to intervene in the U.S. operations and will never know what is happening inside the U.S. missile base.
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The organization did not disclose the location of its latest activity, saying that it might generate unnecessarily conflict with the South Korean community that was used as a staging area.
During the three-day stay, they are set to hold a meeting with South Koreans living in China and South Korean correspondence there.
Seoul argues that North Korea poses a present and immediate threat to regional security, but China worries more about being encircled by an increasingly aggressive United States.
The United Nations Security Council remains divided over how to respond to North Korea’s increasingly provocative missile tests, while Japan and South Korea continue to face opposition at home and overseas for pursuing more aggressive military policies. “(She) is well aware of the real direction of the THAAD anti-missile system”, the editorial said.
President Park Geun-hye on Monday blasted a group of opposition lawmakers who left for China in an apparent effort to fight the government’s plan to deploy an advanced US antimissile system in South Korea. Ms. Park returned the favor past year, coming to Beijing for a major military parade at Tiananmen Square, the only leader of an American ally to attend.
The defense officials condemned the missile tests and reiterated that they will continue to cooperate closely and share information on North Korea’s missile threat, according to the statement.
“What South Korea truly needs to ensure its national security is a friendly neighborhood rather than a US Terminal High Altitude Air Defense (THAAD) system at the cost of the interests of surrounding countries such as China”.
Pyongyang has conducted a series of missile tests this year in defiance of United Nations sanctions imposed after its fourth nuclear test in January.
The same media sources also refer to the widely reported defection of a group of North Korean restaurant workers in Beijing who were apparently influenced by South Korean television. As a result, negotiations between South Korea and China are likely being done in secret.
Tension has been running high since the North staged its fourth nuclear test in January and a series of missile launches since then – most recently last Wednesday, August 3.
Such claim is ridiculous as the DPRKs nuclear development came amid hard-line policies from the United States and South Korea.
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Instead, China appears to be viewing the US with suspicion and has visibly made efforts to bolster relations with the North since Seoul and Washington made their THAAD announcement last month. By locating it in Seongju, the system will provide protection for South Korea’s military headquarters in South Chungcheong Province and U.S. military headquarters in Pyeongtaek, as well as two other USA bases.
