03 August 2017

News Story: USFK chief - THAAD to bolster capability against N. Korean missiles

By Lee Chi-dong

SEOUL, Aug. 2 (Yonhap) -- The top American military commander in South Korea on Wednesday assured people here that the THAAD missile defense system will enhance the allies' defense against North Korean threats.

He cited another successful interception by a THAAD rocket of a medium-range ballistic missile in a test conducted in Alaska last weekend.

It "adds to the confidence I have in the THAAD system deployed to Seongju to defeat the North Korean threats against the Republic of Korea," said Gen. Vincent K. Brooks, who commands the U.S. Forces Korea (USFK) and the allies' Combined Forces Command.

He pointed out that it marked the 15th success in 15 trials for THAAD since the first operational testing in 2005.

"I do not know why anyone would doubt that it is capable of doing what we intended for it to do by deploying it here to Korea," Brooks said in a statement posted on the USFK's website.

He stressed the aim of THAAD here is to defeat incoming North Korean ballistic missiles threatening the South and his troops stationed on the peninsula.

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