South Korea picks new site for US missile defence system

A private golf course in South Korea's southeast has been chosen as the new site for an advanced US missile defence system to be deployed by the end of next year to protect against North Korean threats, South Korean military officials said today.
Seoul's Defence Ministry in July originally picked a nearby artillery base in the rural farming town of Seongju as the site for the Terminal High-Altitude Area Defence, or THAAD.
But Seongju residents fiercely protested the plan, expressing concern over potential health hazards they believe the system's powerful radar might cause.
The golf course owned by South Korea's Lotte business group is also within Seongju, but located farther from the town's main residential areas. However, residents of Gimcheon city, which borders the course, have protested the expected move.

A Defence Ministry official who didn't want to be named, citing office rules, said ministry officials visited lawmakers and regional officials in Seongju and North Gyeongsang Province, which governs the town, to explain the decision.
A ministry note provided to lawmakers described the golf course as ideal because it would require less construction than two other possible sites that were on mountains.

The ministry plans to start discussions on buying the course from Lotte, which said in a statement that it will "positively consider" the proposal.
Ministry officials began exploring alternative sites after President Park Geun-hye promised in August to consider a new location to "lessen the anxiety" of residents in Seongju.

Weeks earlier, angry protesters had pelted her prime minister with eggs and plastic bottles and blocked his bus for several hours during a visit to Seongju to explain the decision to residents.
US and South Korean officials say they need the missile system to better deal with increasing North Korean military threats.
After North Korea conducted its fifth and most powerful nuclear test to date earlier this month, experts raised worries that the country is moving closer toward gaining the ability to put nuclear warheads on a variety of ballistic missiles.
The plan to deploy THAAD in South Korea has angered not only North Korea but also China, which suspects that the system would allow US radar to better track its missiles. Russia also opposes the deployment.

US and South Korean officials say the THAAD system targets only North Korea.