Advanced U.S. Missile-Killer System Headed to South Korea
The move, designed to check North Korean nuclear missiles, has angered China and Russia.
By Kyle Mizokami
Jul 8, 2016
The U.S. Army's mobile ballistic missile interceptor is headed to East Asia. Washington and Seoul have agreed to base the THAAD anti-missile system in South Korea, in order to counter the threat of North Korean nuclear missiles, a move that has angered neighboring China and Russia, who disapprove of the deployment.
Under the agreement, the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) system will be fielded by U.S. Army troops based in Korea. Developed during the 1990s, THAAD is designed to intercept short, medium, and intermediate range ballistic warheads as they re-enter the atmosphere from space, at heights of up to 93 miles. As a result THAAD can protect a wider area than shorter range systems such as the Patriot PAC-3.
The United States had been pushing South Korea for several years to accept the THAAD system, but the country balked at the idea. Seoul abruptly changed its mind in early February, when North Korea fired a long range missile. Within hours, negotiations to deploy THAAD were back on.
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