Aaron Mehta
WASHINGTON — The placement of Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) system on the Korean Peninsula is going to happen, Defense SecretaryAsh Carter said Friday.
Asked at the Council of Foreign Relations if THAAD systems would be placed on the peninsula, Carter was direct, saying “Oh, it’s gonna happen.”
“It’s a necessary thing. It's between us and the South Korea, it about protecting our own forces on the Korean peninsula and about protecting South Korea. It has nothing to do with the Chinese,” Carter said. “We need to defend our own people, we need to defend our own allies.”
Following the recent spate of North Korean missile tests, South Korea officially opened discussion with the US on placing THAAD in South Korea. But the question of setting up a THAAD system has been a tense one with China, which views the radar system as a way for the US to spy into its territory. Each THAAD unit consists of six truck-mounted launchers, 49 interceptors, a fire control and communications unit, and an AN/TPY-2 radar.
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