S. Korea's Park Gets Personal In US Missile System Row

SEOUL, (APP - UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 2nd Augst,2016) - President Park Geun-Hye on Tuesday evoked memories of her parents' assassination as she hit back at opposition to the planned deployment of an advanced US anti-missile system in South Korea. The defence ministry announced last month that the Terminal High Altitude Area Defence system, or THAAD, will be installed in Seongju -- a rural county about 200 kilometres (135 miles) southeast of Seoul -- by the end of next year. The decision was predicated on the growing threat posed by North Korea's advancing nuclear weapons and ballistic missile programme.

Protesting Seongju residents have alleged that the system's powerful radar poses health and environmental hazards, while opposition lawmakers have been less than supportive of the move. At a cabinet meeting Park voiced frustration at the objections to what she insisted was an "unchangeable" decision to deploy the system. "If we cannot take basic defensive steps like deploying THAAD, how can we protect the country and the people?" she said in remarks posted on her official website.