WASHINGTON, Sept. 27 (Xinhua) -- The United States intends to deploy the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) anti-missile system in South Korea "as soon as possible," a senior U.S. official said Tuesday.
"Given the accelerating pace of North Korea (Democratic People's Republic of Korea)'s missile tests, we intend to deploy on an accelerated basis -- I would say as soon as possible," Daniel Russel, U.S. assistant secretary of state, told a hearing held by the Asia Pacific subcommittee of the House Foreign Affairs Committee.
The senior official did not provide the timeline of the deployment, saying that "perhaps our colleagues in the Defense Department and the Republic of Korea" can comment on the timeline.
Russel also said that the THAAD system is "a defensive measure aimed not at China, but at North Korea (DPRK)."
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