SEOUL, Jun 24 (NNN-YONHAP) – South Korean residents and peace activists, who protested against the deployment of the U.S. Terminal High Altitude Area Defence (THAAD), rallied yesterday, near the presidential office in Yongsan district, in central Seoul.
Around a hundred people for the anti-THAAD association told a press conference that, all the procedures of the U.S. missile shield deployment have been abnormal and illegal, given the deployment decision without consent from residents and parliament, the absence of environmental effect assessment, and the operation and the site construction, under the name of “temporary deployment.”
The government of President Yoon Suk-yeol, who took office on May 10, decided to speed up the “normalisation” of the THAAD deployment site, by transporting construction materials into the site and launching the environmental effect assessment, in order to formally deploy the U.S. missile defence system on the Korean Peninsula.
For the past year, police operations near the deployment site have been conducted two or three times per week, to deliver construction materials. The number of operations was raised to five per week from Jun 7.
The police operations, to disperse anti-THAAD protesters, which entailed physical tussles and injuries, disrupted the daily life of residents at Soseong-ri village, in Seongju county, North Gyeongsang province, where the THAAD battery was deployed.
Among about 100 residents living in the closest village to the THAAD X-band radar, nine developed cancers for the past two years. The residents repeatedly demanded devices from the government, to measure the electromagnetic waves emitted by the radar, but it was dismissed.
Residents and activists said, the formal THAAD deployment, under the name of normalisation, would destroy the daily life of residents on the Korean Peninsula and in North-east Asia.
They noted that, the THAAD installation could trigger confrontation and arms race in the region, as the U.S. aimed to strengthen its missile defence capability through the THAAD battery.
The protesters raised placards near the presidential office that say: “Stop construction for formal THAAD deployment that aims to build a (military) alliance among (South) Korea, the United States and Japan,” and “Pull out THAAD and plant peace.”– NNN-YONHAP
“THAAD withdrawal is a way to preserve peace,” said the protesters who stressed that the U.S. missile interception system is incapable of defending South Korea from missile threats of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK).
The THAAD battery is composed of six launchers, 48 interceptors, the AN/TPY-2 radar and the fire and control unit.
