THAAD detrimental to peace in region

The Republic of Korea announced on Thursday that it had completed the installation of the remaining four launchers of the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense anti-missile system, and the battery will be operational as soon as the United States finishes its internal procedures. A THAAD unit comprises six truck-mounted launchers, 48 interceptors (eight each launcher), and AN/TPY-2 radar and other ancillary equipment.

The deployment of THAAD, to begin with, is contrary to ROK President Moon Jae-in's earlier statement that the antimissile system should not be deployed in a hurry. In fact, when US troops in the ROK started deploying THAAD on April 27, a couple of weeks before he took office, Moon "strongly objected" to the move.

Moon changed his decision mainly for two reasons: the Democratic People's Republic of Korea's sixth nuclear test on Sunday, which has made the ROK feel even more insecure; and the importance Moon attaches to Seoul's ties with Washington and the deployment of THAAD is a good way of expressing that.