Speaking at a regular Ministry of National Defense briefing on Aug. 16, a senior Army officer said US Army Chief of Staff Gen. Mark Milley “will be arriving in South Korea on Aug. 17 for a three-day visit, during which time he will be meeting on Aug. 19 with [South Korean] Army Chief of Staff Jang Jun-kyu”.
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The THAAD deployment has drawn strong protests from China.
The ministry said Han would explain the decision-making process of the plan.
In response to his remarks, Lee Jae-bok, who represents 50,000 Seongju residents, asked the minister to give a full explanation regarding the site selection process.
The Army also said in the statement regarding Milley’s visit to South Korea, “While there, he will receive updates on brigade deployments, the combined U.S. and ROK 2nd Infantry Division, the relocation of the U.S. Army units to Camp Humphreys, and plans to deploy a Terminal High Altitude Area Defense to protect the Republic of Korea from North Korean ballistic missile threats”.
To allay anger and fear of Seongju people following the decision, Han and Prime Minister Hwang Kyo-ahn visited Seongju early in July but failed to engage in dialogue with local people and found themselves trapped on a bus for over six hours as local protesters kept them from leaving the area.
This photo taken on August 3, 2016, shows a group of Seongju residents at a local rally against the THAAD deployment in the rural county. It claims that the systems, specifically it powerful “X-band” radar, can be used to monitor China’s airspace and its advanced radar system. They didn’t accept the test results that showed the system’s radar waves didn’t have any serious health impact. Another aim may be to offer side support to the South Korean government, which has found itself under heavy domestic and global pressure over the THAAD issue.
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Oh Young Ran, a North Korean official identified as the director of the American and Africa Research Institute, had said that as the United States expanded territorially, the country “made it a policy of slaughtering” Native Americans and that it was through these “military achievements” U.S. Presidents were able to hold power as “human rights criminals”.
