A file picture shows activists opposing the deployment of a US missile shield near the US embassy in Seoul. [<저작권자 ⓒ 1980-2017 ㈜연합뉴스. 무단 전재 재배포 금지.>]
US troops in South Korea regard Posco's second mill in the southern port city of Gwangyang as a crucial industrial facility that should be guarded by their new missile shield.
Posco, the country's largest steel producer, has two still mills -- one in the southeastern port city of Pohang and the other in Gwangyang. General Vincent Brooks, the top commander of some 28,000 US troops stationed in South Korea, visited Gwangyang on Wednesday.
"Areas such as these, visited by Gen. Brooks, are types of critical civilian infrastructure that are protected against North Korean ballistic missiles by the THAAD battery in Seongju," the US military said on its website.
Posco's manufacturing capability can quickly convert to support wartime requirements in the event of a crisis on the Korean peninsula, it said, stressing the importance of deploying a Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) system in Seongju some 200 kilometers (124 miles) southeast of Seoul.
US troops deployed two THAAD launchers in Seongju on April 26 while four others are at a military camp. President Moon Jae-in put off the deployment of the remaining four until South Korea completes a full assessment of the missile shield's environmental impact.
The missile shield has strained ties between Seoul and Beijing. China insisted the THAAD system would "seriously" hurt strategic interests of China and other countries as well as the security balance in Northeast Asia.
Lim Chang-won = cwlim34@ajunews.com
reporter
Park Sae-jin
swatchsjp@ajunews.com
