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THAAD Missile Defense System Goes Live in South Korea Amid North Korea Tensions

  • A Terminal High Altitude Area Defense interceptor (R) is seen in Seongju, South Korea, on April 26, 2017.

    A Terminal High Altitude Area Defense interceptor (R) is seen in Seongju, South Korea, on April 26, 2017. | Photo: Reuters

Published 2 May 2017
Opinion

U.S. President Donald Trump said he would meet with Kim Jong-un under the right circumstances. 

The THAAD missile defense system deployed by the U.S. in South Korea is now operational, officials said, as North Korea threatens to perform a nuclear test “at any time.”

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South Koreans Protest US THAAD Anti-Missile System as Installation Starts

U.S. officials told Reuters that the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense or THAAD system has reached initial operational capacity, but it won’t be fully operational for some months.

Rob Manning, the spokesperson of the U.S. Forces Korea, also confirmed that the system is “operational,” according to China’s Xinhua News Agency.

The U.S. military started the installment of the system in Seongju county of South Korea last Wednesday. It is believed to be able to intercept missiles coming from North Korea.

Local residents protested against the system concerned that Seongju will become a primary target for North Korean missiles.

Beijing also viewed the system as a threat to its national security, arguing that the radar of the system could be used to spy in its territory.

"China calls for an immediate stop to the THAAD deployment on the Korean Peninsula," China's Foreign Ministry spokesman Geng Shuang said during a regular press briefing Tuesday.

"China will pursue protecting its interests going forward by taking the necessary measures in a stern manner."

OPINION:
War
with North Korea or a Theater of the Absurd?

North Korea had vowed to continue its nuclear tests in response to the “aggression and the military threat” from the U.S., referring to the current U.S.-South Korean military drills.

"The DPRK's measures for bolstering the nuclear force to the maximum will be taken in a consecutive and successive way at any moment and any place decided by its supreme leadership," a spokesman for North Korea’s Foreign Ministry said in a statement to the KCNA news agency on Tuesday.

Despite high tensions on the Korean peninsula, U.S. President Donald Trump said Monday that he is open to meeting North Korean leader Kim Jong-un under the right circumstances.

“If it would be appropriate for me to meet with him, I would absolutely, I would be honored to do it,” Trump said to Bloomberg News. “If it’s under the, again, under the right circumstances. But I would do that.”

Trump didn’t specify in his comment what preconditions should have met for such a meeting to happen. White House press secretary Sean Spicer later told reporters that “clearly conditions are not there right now.”

“We’ve got to see their provocative behavior ratcheted down,” Spicer said.

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