Lotte to transfer its golf course as deployment site for THAAD

By Park Sae-jin Posted : November 16, 2016, 14:17 Updated : November 16, 2016, 14:17

[Courtesy of Lotte Skyhill Country Club]



 South Korea's Lotte Group has accepted a property swap to transfer its golf course as the new site for the deployment of an advanced US missile defense system, the defense ministry said Wednesday.

The Lotte Skyhill Country Club in a remote rural area will be handed over to the defense ministry while the country's fifth largest conglomerate will receive military-owned land in Namyangju at the northeastern suburb of Seoul, the ministry said.

The hillside golf course some 200 kilometers (124 miles) southeast of Seoul was picked in September to deploy a Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) system aimed at intercepting North Korean ballistic missiles.

On July 13, a military base near a rural town in Seongju was picked to deploy a THAAD battery. But the decision was scrapped later because of strong protests by residents who argued their town would be the target of North Korean missile attacks.

They also accused the THAAD battery of emitting strong electromagnetic waves, though military officials dismissed their argument as an excessive worry.

Along with health and environmental problems, the US missile shield sparked concern about China's economic retaliation. The THAAD system has hurt relations between Beijing and Seoul.

Beijing has argued the US missile shield would "seriously" hurt strategic interests of China and other countries as well as the security balance in Northeast Asia. China has threatened to take retaliatory steps if a THAAD battery arrives in South Korea.

A THAAD battery consists of six truck-mounted launchers, 48 interceptors, a fire control and communications unit, and a powerful radar AN/TPY-2 radar.

Some 28,000 US troops are stationed in South Korea under a mutual defense pact dating back to the 1950-53 Korean War. The two Koreas are still technically at war with no peace treaty signed.

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