Protesters shout slogans during a rally to denounce deploying the Terminal High-Altitude Area Defense, or THAAD, in front of the Defense Ministry in Seoul, South Korea, Wednesday, July 13, 2016.
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Seoul and Washington last week revealed their decision to deploy the THAAD system in the South following recent North Korean missile and nuclear tests.
Ko told the press conference he was ordered by South Korea’s spy agency to abduct North Korean orphans in exchange for US$10,000 each.
South Korea’s defence ministry has said it aims to have the system operational by the end of 2017.
Hotel Lotte, the world’s third-largest operator of duty-free stores and the biggest in South Korea, said visitors from China accounted for 70 percent of sales at its duty-free stores in the first six months of the year.
Pyongyang also accused Seoul of turning the Korean peninsula into a “theater of a nuclear war” with its decision to allow to station the THAAD system. Sangju residents launched protests, saying they fear possible health hazards from the missile system.
Defense measures are not trying to target other countries, Blinken said, without referring to China by name.
The unification ministry said that it strongly “condemns (the North) for vulgarly slandering our leader and uttering unjustified accusations with the foul aim of creating division in our society”.
South Korea’s tourism industry is heavily dependent on Chinese tourists, and China is a key trade partner.
Tensions are high since Pyongyang carried out its fourth nuclear test in January, followed by various missile launches that analysts said showed the North was making progress towards being able to strike the United States mainland.
The decision made by the two allies triggered strong objections from China that claimed the powerful X-band radar, used by THAAD, could spy on its military activities. But Washington said the system is purely defensive and only aimed at deterring North Korean threats.
Meanwhile, North Korea’s military threatened to retaliate with a “physical response” once the location of THAAD was decided.
Protesters pelted top South Korean officials with eggs and water bottles and blocked a motorcade with tractors Friday as anger spread over a plan to deploy an advanced USA missile system near a southeastern farming town.
THAAD uses high-resolution radar created to detect and track ballistic missile threats at long distances and high altitudes.
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THAAD opponents express concern that exposure to the electromagnetic radiation from the system’s radar could cause serious harm to nearby residents and could contaminate agricultural products.
