TheU.S. deployedthefirstelementsofitsTerminalHighAltitudeAreaDefense (THAAD) missiledefensesystemtoSouthKoreaTuesday, onedayafterNorthKorealaunchedatleastfourballisticmissiles, threeofwhichlandedwithin 350 kmoftheJapanesemainland.
Lastyear, WashingtonandSeoulagreedtoexpeditetheU.S. missileshielddeploymentinthefaceofNorthKorea’sacceleratedtestinganddevelopmentofitsnuclearandballisticmissileprograms.
"ContinuedprovocativeactionsbyNorthKorea, toincludeyesterday’slaunchofmultiplemissiles, onlyconfirmtheprudenceofouralliancedecisionlastyeartodeployTHAADtoSouthKorea,” AdmiralHarryHarris, thecommanderofU.S. PacificCommandsaidinastatement.
HarrissaidtheTHAADelementsweredeployedtohonoralliancecommitmentstoSouthKoreaandtohelpdefendU.S. troopsintheregion, U.S. alliesandtheAmericanhomeland. TheTHAADsystemcouldbeoperationalasearlyasApril, accordingtheSouthKoreanmilitary.
LikethePatriotmissilesystem, THAADusesmissilestoshootdownincomingmissiles. THAADisabatteryof 48 missilesonmobileerectorlaunchersthatusespowerfulradarandinfraredtechnologytointerceptmissileswithinarangeof 200 km, whiletheyareintheirdescentphase.
China’sstrongoppositiontoTHAADhassparkedconcernsinSouthKorea.
BeijingobjectstotheadvancedU.S. weaponssystemasanunnecessaryandprovocativemilitaryescalation, andsaysthepowerfulradarthesystemusestotrackincomingmissilesalsoposesapotentialthreattoChina.
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