Dozens hurt in protests as US adds missile launchers
SEOUL, SOUTH KOREA » Dozens of people were injured in clashes between South Korean protesters and police Thursday as the U. S. military added more launchers to the high-tech missile- defense 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 Sunday of what North Korea said was a thermonuclear weapon built for missiles capable of reaching the U.S. 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.
Putin said he believes President Donald Trump’s administration is willing to defuse tensions over North Korea’s nuclear ambitions. Its sixth nuclear test on Sunday prompted the United States to speak about a “military response” and South Korea to conduct major military exercises.
Speaking at an economic forum in Russia’s eastern port of Vladivostok, Putin said Thursday he believes the Trump administration is “willing to resolve the situation.” He said there are “many reasonable people in the current administration” who are experienced and who have dealt with similar crises.
Putin called on all North Korea’s neighbors to show restraint, indicating the bellicose rhetoric and the military drills are only “playing into their hands.”
Moon and 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 Youngchan, Moon’s chief press secretary. Putin expressed concern that cutting off oil supplies would hurt regular North Koreans, Yoon said.
Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Geng Shuang reiterated Beijing’s oppo- sition to South Korea’s deployment of THAAD. Beijing says the system’s powerful radars will be able to monitor flights and missile launches deep inside northeastern China.
Geng said China had complained to the U.S. and South Korea and urged them to “take seriously the security concerns and interests of China and other regional countries.”
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 THAAD is installed in the rural town of Seongju. Six police officers and 32 other people reportedly were injured, none seriously, in the clashes.