South Korea picks new site for US missile defense system

A South Korean protester attends a rally to oppose a deployment of the Terminal High-Altitude Area Defense, or THAAD, in Seoul, South Korea, Saturday, Sept. 3, 2016. The advanced U.S. missile defense system will be deployed in a rural farming town in southeastern South Korea, Seoul officials announced on July 13, angering not only North Korea and China but also local residents who fear potential health hazards that they believe the U.S. system might cause. The signs read “We oppose a deployment of the THAAD.” AP

SEOUL, South Korea — South Korean military officials say a private golf course in the country’s southeast region has been chosen as the new site for an advanced US missile defense system to be deployed by the end of next year to help cope with North Korean threats.

The announcement Friday came two months after Seoul’s Defense Ministry originally picked a nearby artillery base in the rural farming county of Seongju as the site for Terminal High-Altitude Area Defense, or THAAD.

But Seongju residents fiercely protested the plan, raising fears over potential health hazards they believe the system’s powerful radar might cause.

The golf course currently owned by South Korea’s Lotte business group is also within Seongju county, but located farther away from residential areas./rga

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