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by Qu Junya, Liu Lili
BEIJING, Aug. 1 (Xinhua) -- By deploying the Terminal High Altitude Air Defense (THAAD) anti-missile missile system in South Korea, Washington not only ties Seoul onto its chariot, but also casts a shadow of a new Cold War over Northeast Asia, to the detriment of regional peace and stability.
For hawks in Washington, deploying THAAD on the Korean Peninsula is a phased victory for their efforts to forge an Asian version of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), as the THAAD system in South Korea can be integrated with those already installed in the U.S. military bases in Japan and the Guam island.
For South Korea, the deal with Washington is largely seen as a serious damage to its political mutual trust with its neighbors and an invitation for economic punishments which Seoul cannot afford.
In addition, the deployment has resulted in public fury over South Korean President Park Geun-hye and her administration at home, bringing her public support to an all-time low. An opinion poll conducted last week by local media shows that her supporting rate among young people in their 20s even dropped to below 10 percent.
Meanwhile, the deployment will also intensify confrontation between the two Koreas, as Pyongyang might be provoked by strategic insecurity and go further on developing missiles or even banned nuclear weapons.
Read the full story at Xinhua