Will THAAD Deployment to South Korea Have Election Consequences?

That is what editorial writer Oh Young-jin for the Korea Times thinks:

The ongoing controversy over the terminal high-altitude area defense (THAAD), the U.S.-made missile defense system, has similarities with the mad cow crisis.

The THAAD case could be as explosive in its consequences as the U.S. beef case. Already, the citizens of the areas that are reported to be on the shortlist of candidates are up in arms, some organizing committees and others pressuring their political representatives. It is the exhibition of the selfish “not-in-my-backyard” mentality. But they can’t be blamed for not wanting to be targeted by the first wave of North Korean attacks that concentrate on strategic military assets such as THAAD or the expected losses in their property values.

Making their protests as political as the mad cow protests is the fact that the country is about to enter an election cycle ahead of the December 2017 presidential poll. Buffeted in not-so-small measures by the THAAD brouhaha, President Park Geun-hye saw her approval ratings fall dramatically. Especially noteworthy is the record low of popular support in her regional power centers in North Gyeongsang Province and Daegu. Chilgok and Waegwan, both in North Gyeongsang Province, are reportedly included on the shortlist.

Even if the THAAD controversy doesn’t lead to the massive protests that the U.S. beef incident did, a strong impact could be felt at the ballot boxes. Already, lawmakers from Park’s governing Saenuri Party are agitated, with some making clear their opposition to the THAAD development. Certainly in their calculus are more minuses than pluses for the chances of their party’s standard bearer to win the December 2017 election.  [Korea Times]

You can read more at the link, but what Oh Young-jin misses is that despite the protests created by the lies about US beef pushed by leftist groups and their media allies South Korean conservatives still won the next election.  This largely because the lies were exposed for what they were.  The protests against THAAD are the same thing people pushing lies.  Just like other radars, the THAAD system has a safe keep out zone that the military will position so that it will not harm anyone.  The ROK military currently has Patriot and Green Pine radars positioned around the country and we saw no protests about those because there was no political incentive to lie about the safety of those radars like we are seeing with THAAD.