U.S. sets up missile defense in S. Korea

N. Korea shows off power with live-fire artillery drills

SEOUL, South Korea — In a defiant bit of timing, South Korea announced today that key parts of a contentious U.S. missile defense system had been installed a day after rival North Korea showed off its military power.

The South’s trumpeting of progress on setting up the Terminal High-Altitude Area Defense system, or THAAD, comes as highpowered U.S. military assets converge on the Korean Peninsula, and as a combative North Korea signals possible nuclear and missile testing.

North Korea conducted live-fire artillery drills on Tuesday, the 85th anniversary of the founding of its million-person-strong Korean People’s Army. On the same day, a U.S. guided-missile submarine docked in South Korea and the USS Carl Vinson aircraft carrier is headed to the peninsula for a joint exercise with South Korea.

The moves to set up THAAD within this year have angered not only North Korea, but also China, the country the Trump administration hopes to work with to rid the North of nuclear weapons. China, increasingly frustrated with its ally Pyongyang, and Russia see the system’s powerful radars as a security threat.

South Korea said in a statement today that Seoul and Washington have been pushing to get THAAD quickly working to cope with North Korea’s advancing nuclear and missile threats. According to Yonhap news agency, the installed parts include two or three launchers, intercept missiles and at least one radar.

About 8,000 police officers were mobilized and the main road leading to the site in the southeast was blocked earlier today, Yonhap reported. About 200 residents and protesters rallied in front of a local community center, some hurling plastic water bottles.

On Tuesday, North Korea conducted livefire drills near the east coast city of Wonsan that involved 300 to 400 artillery pieces, Yonhap reported. An official from Seoul’s Defense Ministry couldn’t confirm those specific details.

North Korea’s official media said early Wednesday that leader Kim Jong Un personally observed the exercises.