from the shooting-a-bullet-with-a-bullett dept.
The United States and South Korea issued a joint statement saying that the United States is to place a THAAD (Terminal High-Altitude Area Defense) anti-missile system in South Korea. The system uses radar to identify approaching missiles, against which interceptor missiles can be fired. It would be under control of the United States military. According to the statement, the system
will be focused solely on North Korean nuclear and missile threats and would not be directed towards any third party nations.
The Chinese Foreign Ministry said that it "expresses strong dissatisfaction and firm opposition" and called for a "stop" to the deployment.
coverage:
- CCTV (Chinese government source)
- Xinhua (Chinese government source; story from February)
- Xinhua (story from 29 June)
- Kores Times
- Reuters (story from 29 June)
- Los Angeles Times
- Washington Post
- BBC
- Reuters
- New York Times
Related Stories
The Sydney Morning Herald reports that relations between South Korea and China are strained after Lotte agreed to provide a site for an American THAAD anti-missile system in South Korea's Jeju Province.
Beijing has issued two "solemn representations" to Seoul over the impending deployment, and the People's Daily, a Communist party mouthpiece, said in an editorial that Beijing could potentially sever diplomatic ties.
On Tuesday, after months of negotiations, South Korean retail giant Lotte Group reached a deal to swap land at its Lotte Skyhill Country Club - a lush, mountainous resort in on the southern side of Jeju Island - for a military-owned parcel on the outskirts of Seoul, making way for the missile shield to be placed on the country club site.
That same day, Chinese authorities fined one of Lotte's Beijing supermarkets $US6500 for displaying a "false advertisement" - a vanishingly rare charge in the city, according to the state-run Legal Daily.
South Korean musicians, cosmetics, and television productions have also been subjected to adverse actions by the Chinese government, the article says.
A statement from the Russian Foreign Ministry after a meeting with the Assistant Foreign Minister of China said
Both parties emphasised that collective political and diplomatic efforts should be stepped up to ease tensions and initiate the process of military and political detente across the board in Northeast Asia, in order to create conditions conducive to resolving the nuclear issue, as well as other issues, on the Korean Peninsula.
Submitter's comment: I'm puzzled by the choice of a site to the south of the Korean peninsula.
Additional coverage:
- Stars and Stripes
- Xinhua (Chinese government news service)
- RT (supported by Russian government)
- Value Walk
- Reuters
- CNN
- The Korea Herald
- UPI
- Sputnik (supported by Russian government)
further information:
golfshot.com entry for Lotte Sky Hill Jeju Country Club
previous stories:
- South Korea to Receive U.S. Anti-Missile Interceptor System
- G20 Summit Roundup
- Lotte Group Vice Chairman, Facing Corruption Probe, Found Dead in Apparent Suicide
U.S. Begins Installing Missile Defense System in South Korea
The U.S. has begun the installation of the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense missiles system:
The US military has started installing a controversial missile defence system at a site in South Korea, amid high tensions over neighbouring North Korea's nuclear and missile ambitions. The Thaad system is designed to protect against threats from North Korea.
Hundreds of local residents protested against the deployment, as vehicles carrying equipment arrived at the site in the south of the country. China argues Thaad will destabilise security in the region. The US has in recent days deployed warships and a submarine to the Korean peninsula, amid fears North Korea could be planning further missile or nuclear tests.
Admiral Harry Harris said that the THAAD system would bring Kim Jong-un "to his senses, not to his knees".
FireEye recently claimed that China is attempting to hack South Korean targets to delay the deployment of THAAD.
(Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday July 09 2016, @09:15PM
I wouldn't be surprised in Chinese and/or Russian hackers, with support from their governments, will try to help Trump in the November election. Because Trump 1) has a giant hardon for dictators, like the ones ruling their countries, and 2) doesn't know what he's doing in foreign policy, or much else except for reality TV-style promotion for himself. Nor does he care. Nor does he have connections to senior people with the relevant experience.
(Score: 2) by butthurt on Saturday July 09 2016, @09:54PM
After Mr. Trump said that South Korea ought to increase payments for the U.S. military force there, a government-owned North Korean publication printed an editorial praising him (alternate link: https://archive.is/U05fU [archive.is]).
It doesn't seem to be meant to be taken as an official position of the DPRK government.
(Score: -1, Troll) by Ethanol-fueled on Saturday July 09 2016, @10:46PM
Hillary and her Jew puppet-masters are the ones who will bring us to war with Russia. Not Trump.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday July 10 2016, @01:12AM
Try a bit less ethanol, it doesn't fuel people nearly as well as it does robots you know.
(Score: 1, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday July 09 2016, @09:41PM
Seoul is way too close to the DMZ for a THAAD system to respond fast enough. (THAAD stands for Theater High Altitude something-something, shots from the edge of the DMZ would not reach a high altitude)
Maybe if the DPRK launches from somewhere deeper in their own territory. But why would they?
If they wanted to take out Seoul all they need to do is mortar bombardment, no real missiles needed.
Seems like this is more about geopolitics than it is about actual warfare and probably as much of a message to China as it is to the DPRK. Putin has been pissing and moaning about missile defense system installations in NATO countries on the border with Russia.
Japan's already got at least one US missile defense system in place (IIRC it is a THAAD too), that should be good enough to stop a one-off shot from the DPRK.
Two or three simultaneous missiles would be a lot harder to stop, but not out of scope.
And anyone who feels like saying that star wars doesn't work - computers are at least 10x faster than when that was kind of sort of true. Over the years the test firings they have done in the intervening years are now basically real-world tests.
(Score: 2) by butthurt on Saturday July 09 2016, @10:05PM
In February the Russian government "expressed concerns" about having the THAAD system in South Korea.
http://english.yonhapnews.co.kr/national/2016/02/10/65/0301000000AEN20160210000500315F.html [yonhapnews.co.kr]
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday July 09 2016, @10:10PM
Though this is true for conventional missiles any nuclear missiles need to be detonated quite a bit above the ground in order to cause the most devastation.
(Score: 1, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday July 09 2016, @11:26PM
If the nuke is launched upwards from the edge of the DMZ, and explodes on the upward trajectory (likely killing the people who launched it) none of the missile defense systems will work because they all rely on the missile becoming "ballistic" as in no longer operating under its own power but instead being pulled by gravity. When a missile is ballistic its trajectory becomes predictable.
(Score: 5, Informative) by PinkyGigglebrain on Saturday July 09 2016, @11:34PM
Not really, while it is true that an air burst will maximize the destructive radius of a blast even a ground burst will completely destroy Seoul.
Back during the cold war one of the biggest concerns the Americans had was a little trick known as a "depressed trajectory" ICBM launch. Instead of having the missile accelerate up then have the warhead free fall back down in a normal ballistic trajectory, which is where THADD would be effective, you have the missile go sideways from the launch point and make a shallow arch to the target. The missile would be in it's acceleration phase most of the way and could even detonate before it finished its primary burn. The THADD system is useless against that kind of launch.
What gave the DoJ nightmares was having a Soviet "Boomer" sneak up on the coast line and execute DT launches at critical targets. According to the simulations they had a good chance of getting many high value targets before an alert could even be sounded. It was one of the reasons the US had flight ready bombers on the runway 24/7 with engine running and ready to lift the instant there was an alert. Those and the subs were the primary things that guaranteed the MAD policy kept anyone from trying to get in a first strike.
There would be no winners, so no one wanted to risk playing
"Beware those who would deny you Knowledge, For in their hearts they dream themselves your Master."
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday July 10 2016, @04:52AM
And yet in 9/11 the military officially got zero of the planes.
(Score: 2) by PinkyGigglebrain on Sunday July 10 2016, @06:33AM
That is because
A: the military happened to be conducting "training exercises" that month involving simulated high jacked planes so there was initial confusion in the FAA about whether the 4 planes had actually had been high jacked. By the time they figured it out it was too late.
B: the fighter jets that could have intercepted the high jacked plans had been sent hundreds of miles away from where the planes that had really been high jacked making a timely intercept impossible. The exact reasons didn't get explained in the official report.
Lots of other interesting things happening around and before the morning of September 11th, 2001. Most can be written off as just coincidence and back luck but some of it can really make you wonder if you bother to look into it.
"Beware those who would deny you Knowledge, For in their hearts they dream themselves your Master."
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday July 10 2016, @06:55AM
> What gave the DoJ nightmares
Why did they care? Not their job.
(Score: 1) by nitehawk214 on Sunday July 10 2016, @07:42AM
DoJ? Or do you mean the DoD?
"Don't you ever miss the days when you used to be nostalgic?" -Loiosh
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday July 10 2016, @05:32AM
Seoul is 35 miles from the DMZ, not enough time and distance to intercept artillery shells but enough to accept mortar shells which are slower.
http://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/.premium-1.610442 [haaretz.com]
(Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday July 09 2016, @09:46PM
This is more than a defensive move to try to protect South Korea and Japan from North Korea's (soon to be functional) ballistic missiles. This anti-missile missile system makes China nervous because it could also be used to try to intercept any missiles sent from China (should that day ever come). It forces China to try to convince North Korea to stop both its nuclear and ballistic missile programs before it is installed. Once THAAD is in place there isn't much China can do about it so the timetable for putting pressure on Noth Korea has just sped up.
Of course North Korea is more offended by the US imposing sanctions this week against Kin Jong Un - which they have called an act of war - than they are about the THAAD system.
(Score: 2, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday July 10 2016, @05:03AM
It's as much defense as the US placing missiles in Turkey and Italy and Russia placing missiles in Cuba to protect Cuba.
How'd you like my home defense when my sentry guns are way across the neighborhood, in your neighbor's backyard pointing at you. Of course it's strictly for protecting my friend (your neighbor).
[1] Aircraft carriers are offense not defense.
(Score: 1, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday July 10 2016, @07:02AM
THAAD is 100% defensive, it can only hit missiles that have passed the top of their arc and are no longer under their own power (and thus no longer maneuverable).
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday July 09 2016, @10:05PM
The deployment is S. Korea's nod to America. It's not a deterrent against N. Korea, which is too close for the system, it's aimed at China/Russia, which, of course, is a mutual interest of both America and S. Korea.
Ok, carry on with your comments then.
(Score: 2) by MichaelDavidCrawford on Saturday July 09 2016, @10:29PM
There are too many of them for THAAD to be effective. NK could torch Seoul in a purely conventional way.
Yes I Have No Bananas. [gofundme.com]
(Score: 2) by Gravis on Saturday July 09 2016, @10:46PM
I understand China is unhappy about the anti-missile system but if they want to prevent any further escalation then they need to get North Korea under control. The only reason this is happening is because of North Korea's actions, so China needs to take action because North Korea is the angry communist baby that they helped make and now maintain.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by Ethanol-fueled on Saturday July 09 2016, @11:08PM
As others have pointed out, It's about China/Russia rather than North Korea.
Nobody takes North Korea seriously. North Korea is the little bastard stepchild who throws fits from time to time, but the adults are too patient to spank him or otherwise take him seriously, so they give him an ice cream cone and he shuts up for awhile. Lather, rinse, repeat.
All the fearmongering bullshit surrounding North Korea is simply opportunistic behavior to justify provocative actions of North Korea's enemies. China doesn't even like North Korea and prefers it shut the fuck up.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday July 10 2016, @05:10AM
so China needs to take action
Take what action? The sorts of action the US did with Iraq, Syria, Libya, Iran, etc? Look how well that's turned out.
China doesn't want millions of North Korean refugees. North Korea is under control about as much as they want. Plenty of North Koreans believe their leader is a god or similar.
(Score: 3, Interesting) by deimios on Sunday July 10 2016, @04:48AM
Last time the U.S. did this (placing it at the edge of NATO space in Romania) it went over REAL well. From veiled threats, to price hikes in gas imported from Russia to more open threats like: Russia could take over Romania in 2 days.
Now that all the powder was blown up in the middle east it's time to light the fuse in Asia I guess. Pissing off Russia AND China at the same time. The problem is that these aren't sandpeople and I will see Russian tanks rolling on the streets before the U.S. can send a strongly worded letter to Putin...