The left wing Hankyoreh newspaper went to the Kyoga-Misaki radar site in Japan to try and dig up dirt to use against the deployment of THAAD to South Korea and found much to do about nothing:
Structure from US radar base at Kyoga-Misaki, Japan.
In June of last year, when South Koreans first started talking about THAAD, I came here to report on residents who were concerned about the noise and the health effects of the electromagnetic waves.At the time, there was considerable opposition from residents who were afraid that their health would be damaged by the radar, but over the past year, the residents appear to have come to terms with the radar, like it or not. [Hankyoreh]
The generators for the radar used to create noise for nearby residents, but they were muffled last year which eliminated the vast majority of the noise and next year the radar is going to be hooked up to the commercial power grid thus turning off the generators. This will eliminate all the noise. Also the radar looks out over the ocean thus there are no concerns about electromagnetic waves.
Despite all these facts the Hankyoreh reporter did everything he could to end the article in an ominous tone:
“The negative effect of the radar is invisible,” said Munenori Owan, 75, co-chairman of the Kyoto Group Against the X-Band Radar Base. “Electromagnetic waves are invisible, and the effect of the noise varies with the individual. If I’m having problems and the person next to me is fine, that makes me the weird one.”“If South Korea teams up with the US against China, South Korea won‘t be able to prosper. Security problems must be resolved through dialogue and not through military conflicts that antagonize the other side. Focusing solely on electromagnetic waves and noise will make you miss the heart of the problem,” Owan said. Sodeshi Village is weighed down by a sense of despair and discontent that is drowned out by the ominous rumble of the generator. Is this the future that the South Korean government wants for Seongju?
What is really ridiculous about this report is that no mention about the radar at Kyoga-Misaki that is part of the JADGE system that detects and protects Japan from missile attack is made. Below is a map that shows the various JADGE radars in Japan; the Kyoga-Misaki radar can be seen towards the center of the map:
This radar has been there for years and no one is complaining about electromagnetic waves from that radar. This is similar to the fact that South Korea operates various radars across the ROK as well and no one is protesting those radars. This is just another example of how the opposition to the THAAD radar is purely political and has nothing to do with environmental concerns.
