President Park’s Comments Raises Doubts About THAAD Deployment to Korea

No matter where the THAAD radar is located it will be radiating over somebody so I don’t see what moving the site really gains the government other than a large construction bill and an extended deployment timeline:

A placard that reads “No THAAD in Gimcheon” is hung in Joma Township in Gimcheon, North Gyeongsang Province, Friday. Residents there hung three such placards amid rumors that Geumsu Township in Seongju Country near Joma Township could be an alternative site for a U.S. Terminal High Altitude Area Defense battery. / Korea Times

The government is facing growing doubts over whether it will can allow the deployment of a U.S. anti-missile battery by next year after President Park Geun-hye raised the possibility of choosing an alternative location within Seongju County in North Gyeongsang Province.

Park said this during a meeting with ruling party lawmakers, Thursday, in an effort to calm the fears of Seongju residents over the safety of the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) system. However, military officials say it will take considerable time to find a new site and build a base for an artillery unit, which means deploying the system by next year would be almost impossible.

On July 13, the Ministry of National Defense announced that the anti-missile battery will be set up in Seongsan-ri, which is currently home to the South Korean Air Force’s air defense artillery unit that operates a Hawk ground-to-air missile battery. The ministry said THAAD will be fully deployed by the end of next year as threats from North Korea’s nuclear and missile program are growing.

“The reason why the two countries can be sure that the deployment will be done by next year is that the artillery unit already exists in Seongsan-ri, meaning that the military does not need to build a site,” a military official said on condition of anonymity.

Finding a new suitable place and building another site from scratch would take at least four to five years and tens of billions of won as the military needs to remove the top of a mountain and purchase adjacent privately owned land. In this case, the deployment is impossible within Park’s tenure and will be handed over to the next government as she completes her term in office in February 2018. [Korea Times]

You can read more at the link.

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ChickenHead
ChickenHead
8 years ago

“The government is facing growing doubts over whether it will can allow the deployment of a U.S. anti-missile battery”

Read carefully…

What the hell is “will can allow”?

I will tell you what it is.

The reporter had to choose between will and can… words with very different meanings… as one puts the burden of choice on the government and one on the demands of the population.

Somehow, the choice was never made and the magical new (and seemingly excellent) word “will can” slipped past the editor.

I believe this should be a common word for politicians to adopt… as it can be used to deflect blame or show strength depending on the outcome of a situation.

setnaffa
setnaffa
8 years ago

Politicians with no spine, eh? Whodathunkit?

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