It seems the Blue House wants to get the THAAD missile defense system in place before the race to replace impeached President Park begins to make it a non-campaign issue:
Acting President and Prime Minister Hwang Kyo-ahn speaks during a parliamentary interpellation session at the National Assembly on Dec. 21, 2016. (Yonhap)
Acting President and Prime Minister Hwang Kyo-ahn said Wednesday that an advanced U.S. anti-missile system has to be deployed to South Korea as soon as possible to counter North Korea’s growing nuclear and missile threats.
Hwang made the remarks amid calls from opposition parties to delay the planned deployment of the Terminal High-Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) system to the Korean Peninsula given the lack of public consensus and China’s vehement opposition to it.
Seoul hopes to install a THAAD battery in the southern county of Seongju, 296 kilometers southeast of Seoul, by May next year.
“For security, (we) have to deploy (THAAD),” he said during a parliamentary interpellation session. “As we cannot wait even for a moment to cope with North Korea’s nuclear provocations, we have to do what we can do first.” [Yonhap]
