US adds launchers to Thaad as protesters hurt
Officials say health concerns groundless
SEOUL: Dozens of people were injured in clashes between South Korean protesters and police yesterday as the US military added more launchers to the high-tech missile-defence system it installed in a southern town to better cope with North Korean threats.
Seoul has hardened its stance against Pyongyang after its torrent of weapons tests, the latest a detonation on Sunday of what North Korea said was a thermonuclear weapon built for missiles capable of reaching the US mainland.
The clashes came as South Korean President Moon Jae-in and Japanese Prime Minster Shinzo Abe met in Russia’s Far East and repeated their calls for stronger punishment of North Korea over its nuclear ambitions, including denying the country oil supplies. The demand contradicted the stance of their host, Russian President
Vladimir Putin, who has dismissed sanctions as a solution.
Speaking at an economic forum in Russia’s eastern port of Vladivostok, Mr Putin said yesterday he believes the Trump administration is “willing to resolve the situation”. He said there are “many reasonable people in the current administration”.
Mr Moon and Mr Abe in their meeting agreed to cooperate on seeking tougher United Nations sanctions against North Korea and pledged to strengthen efforts to persuade Beijing and Moscow into cutting off oil supplies to the North, said Yoon Young-chan, Moon’s chief press secretary. Mr Putin expressed concern that cutting off oil supplies would hurt regular North Koreans.
“We should not give in to emotions and push Pyongyang into a corner,” Mr Putin said in a news conference after meeting with Mr Moon.
In South Korea, thousands of police officers in riot gear swarmed some 400 protesters who had been occupying a road leading to the site where the Terminal HighAltitude Area Defence System (Thaad) is installed in the rural town of Seongju.
Six police officers and 32 other people were injured, none seriously, in the clashes, said a fire department official in Seongju who spoke on condition of anonymity, citing office rules.
Several U.S. military vehicles, including trucks carrying payloads covered in black sheets that appeared to be launchers, had been seen heading toward the site.
A Thaad battery normally consists of six launchers capable of firing up to 48 interceptor missiles, but only two have been operational.
South Korea’s Defence Ministry couldn’t immediately confirm when the f our launchers added yesterday will be operationally capable.
Washington and Seoul began deploying Thaad before a conservative South Korean government was ousted in March in a corruption scandal.
The liberal Mr Moon took office in May calling for diplomacy with Pyongyang but the escalation in weapons tests has been the North’s only response.
Mr Moon temporarily halted the Thaad installation for environmental reviews to ease residents’ concerns. But after North Korea’s two test-launches of intercontinental ballistic missiles, he allowed more launchers to be set up before the reviews are conducted.
South Korean officials say Thaad will strengthen the country’s missile defences, which now rely on Patriot-based systems, and will deter North Korea, which has missiles that can be fired from road-mobile launchers or submarines.
They also say the health rumours that have spurred local concerns about the system’s powerful radar component are groundless and no such issues have been reported at other Thaad sites.