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| THAAD Launcher |
By Yoo Seungki
SEOUL, July 14 (Xinhua) -- South Korea's decision to comply with the U.S. Pivot-to-Asia strategy by deploying the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) system may help the government draw public attention on security threats, experts here said.
"The Park Geun-hye government may have approached the THAAD issue in consideration of the lame duck period," said Kim Yong Hyun, professor of North Korean studies at Dongguk University.
Kim said at a forum hosted on Wednesday by the People's Solidarity for Participatory Democracy (PSPD) that President Park Geun-hye may have thought of the THAAD deployment as an issue capable of drawing public attention on security threats.
When tensions get high on the Korean peninsula, South Korean people tended to vote for conservative candidates. The THAAD deployment caused groundless fears here among the general public that South Korea's territory cannot be protected without the U.S. missile defense system.
Seoul and Washington announced their decision last Friday to deploy one THAAD battery to U.S. Forces Korea (USFK) by the end of next year. Just five days later, the Seongju county, some 300 km southeast of the capital Seoul, was designated as the deployment site.
Read the full story at Xinhua