Editorial StaffThe US has begun to bring in their much talked about missile defense system to South Korea in bits and pieces. Parts of the system better known as Terminal High Altitude Area Defense or THAAD has already arrived at the Osan Air Base located 43 miles away from Seoul. This announcement was made by the US military on Monday night.
The anti ballistic missile system is designed to intercept ballistic missiles of short, medium and intermediate range over a 200 kilometers area during the last stage of their flights. The deal to deploy THAAD was struck in July last year between South Korea and United States because of the augmented nuclear capabilities of North Korea. And the new administration in US has already stated that they are committed to follow through with the deployment.
So, it is not much of a coincidence that the preparation for deployment began right after North Korea tested four missiles from an army base that could potentially strike US bases located in Japan. The testing was meant to provoke as three of the 4 missiles landed in Japanese water and coincided with US-South Korea joint military exercises. The testing was reportedly supervised by Kim Jong Un himself.
“Continued provocative actions by North Korea, to include yesterday’s launch of multiple missiles, only confirm the prudence of our alliance decision last year to deploy THAAD to South Korea,” U.S. Pacific Commander Admiral Harry Harris said in a statement regarding the deployment.
China has opposed the plans for THAAD deployment right from the beginning; because it feels the balance in the region is upset by its presence. Moreover the strong radars in the system could be a security threat to the countries in the region. US has however stated that the system is purely defensive in nature and is aimed solely at North Korea.
(Reporting and Writing by Ananya Dutta; Editing by Zainab Asif)
Zainab Asif
Damodar Kalyan
