The deployment of THAAD has nothing to do with the radar being able to look into China, but more to do with trying to create a wedge between the US and the ROK according to analysts:

Analysts say China’s leadership is reluctant to impose tougher sanctions on North Korea because a sudden collapse of the regime could spark a refugee crisis at its border and lead to a pro-U.S., democratic Korea on its doorstep.

Kim Heung-kyu, head of the China Policy Institute at South Korea’s Ajou University, said relations between South Korea and China face a test because Beijing views the THAAD battery as a way of strengthening the alliance with Seoul, Washington and Tokyo.

“China does not regard the THAAD system as an issue of missile or radar, but a ‘regional alliance’ among South Korea, the U.S. and Japan,” Kim said. South Korean and U.S. officials made it clear that the THAAD battery, if deployed, “would be focused solely on North Korea.”

Still, there is a risk that the deployment of the THAAD battery in South Korea could make it difficult for Seoul to seek Beijing’s cooperation against Pyongyang, Kim said.

“With regard to the denuclearization of North Korea, I am not positive about whether the THAAD system is a useful option or not,” Kim said.  [Korea Herald]

You can read more at the link.

Both Kerry and Abe calling NK missile launch unacceptable. But what will they actually do? We'll see. https://t.co/IDo1vNMlD9

— Erik Slavin (@eslavin_stripes) February 7, 2016

This image, captured on Feb. 7, 2016 from the North’s Korean Central TV Broadcasting Station, shows a document signed the previous day by the country’s leader Kim Jong-un authorizing the launch of the “Kwangmyongsong-4” satellite. North Korea said in a special broadcast it has succeeded in placing the satellite into orbit. The rocket launch is widely viewed as a disguised ballistic missile test. (Yonhap)

The Chinese government is upset about the talks between the US and South Korea to deploy the THAAD missile defense system to the ROK and their complaints when looked at objectively pretty much justifies the deployment of THAAD to Korea:

China summoned South Korean Ambassador Kim Jang-soo to protest against Seoul and Washington’s agreement to begin talks on deploying a U.S. Terminal High-Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) battery in South Korea..

Chinese Vice Foreign Minister Liu Zhenmin called in the ambassador Sunday to protest.

It is the first time the Chinese government has called in Kim, a former defense minister, who assumed the post last March.

Earlier, the Chinese foreign ministry had expressed “deep concern,” about the THAAD discussions.

Hours after the North Korean rocket launch Sunday, South Korea and the U.S. said they would begin talks on deploying the THAAD battery. The launch is widely viewed as a covert ballistic missile test to develop delivery vehicles capable of carrying nuclear warheads.

“China’s position on the issue of anti-missile is consistent and clear,” the Chinese foreign ministry said in a faxed statement, Yonhap News Agency reported. [Korea Times]

You can read more at the link, but here is the part of their complaint when looked at objectively pretty much justifies deploying THAAD to Korea:

“Countries, when pursuing their own security, should take into account others’ security interests as well as regional peace and stability.”

The Chinese should heed their own advice because their actions to allow the Kim regime to continuously destabilize regional security and threaten the security interests of South Korea is why THAAD looks like it will be deployed to Korea in the first place.

It appears that South Korea is getting serious about stopping sexual harassment in the school system:

Suwon District Court has sentenced a high school teacher in Yongin, Gyeonggi Province, to six years’ jail for sexually harassing and blackmailing a student.

The teacher, identified as Kim, 38, was also ordered to spend 80 hours at a class for sexual offenders and to have his personal information disclosed for six years.

Kim forced his student, 19, identified only as “A,” to take off her clothes and had sexually harassed her 43 times from August to October last year. He also filmed body parts to blackmail her, police said.

Kim approached the student, offering free personal tutoring, because “A” could not afford private lessons. “A” was preparing for a civil service examination.

The court said it handed down a heavy sentence because Kim forgot his duty as a teacher and treated his student as a sex object.

But the court took into consideration that Kim admitted guilt and had paid 30 million won to the student. [Korea Times]

https://twitter.com/pearswick/status/696230957771173888

This photo, released by the North’s Korean Central TV Broadcasting Station on Feb. 7, 2016, shows North Korea’s “Kwangmyongsong-4” satellite being fired from the Dongchang-ri launch site in Cholsan, North Pyongan Province. The North launched the rocket in a move widely viewed as a disguised ballistic missile test in defiance of United Nations Security Council resolutions. (Yonhap)

Like I have been saying for months, official talks to deploy THAAD to Korea would probably happen once the ROK government had the political cover of a North Korean provocation which the latest rocket launch has given them:

South Korea and the United States have agreed to begin negotiations for the deployment of an advanced American air defense system on South Korean soil, officials said Sunday, despite opposition from China and Russia.

The announcement on the controversial defense system, Terminal High Altitude Area Defense, was given just hours after North Korea launched a long-range missile as part of the continual push of its intercontinental ballistic missile tests.

“The U.S. and South Korea have decided to start official discussion on the possibility of U.S. Forces Korea’s deployment of THAAD as part of measures to upgrade the South Korea-U.S. alliance’s missile defense posture against North Korea’s advancing threats,” Yoo Jeh-seung, deputy minister for policy, said in a joint briefing with Lt. Gen. Thomas Vandal, the commander of USFK’s Eighth Army.

Vandal said the decision was made upon USFK Commander Gen. Curtis Scaparrotti’s recommendation, adding that “it is time to move forward on the issue.”  [Yonhap]

It is Super Bowl Sunday so who is everyone rooting for this year?  Go Broncos!

It makes you wonder if the additional safety risk caused by the platform screen doors is worth the suicide prevention rationale for installing them in the first place?:

An elderly woman died Wednesday after her purse was caught between a subway train and a platform screen door at Seoul Station, and she was dragged until she fell onto the tracks.

According to police, the woman, surnamed Seol, 81, got stuck while exiting the train at 9:04 a.m. She was pulled for about seven meters between the glass and the train and before falling on the tracks.

Witnesses said the accident happened because her purse was caught in the closing subway doors and she tried to pull it out.

The subway doors and the platform screen doors closed at the same time and the woman was caught between them, but the train departed without the engine driver noticing this.

“When the rescue team arrived, she was already dead with a serious head injury,” a police officer said. [Korea Times]

You can read more at the link.