South Korea Picks New Site for US Missile Defense System | Military.com: A private golf course in South Korea's southeast has been chosen as the new site for an advanced U.S. missile defense system to be deployed by the end of next year to protect against North Korean threats, Seoul's Defense Ministry said Friday.
South Korean military officials in July originally picked a nearby artillery base in the rural farming town of Seongju as the site for the Terminal High-Altitude Area Defense, or THAAD.
But Seongju residents fiercely protested the plan, expressing concern over potential health hazards they believe the system's powerful radar might cause.
The golf course owned by South Korea's Lotte business group is also within Seongju, but located farther from the town's main residential areas. However, residents of Gimcheon city, which borders the course, have protested the expected move.
The new site was selected after a month-long inspection and was approved by the defense ministers of both the United States and South Korea, Seoul's Defense Ministry said in a statement. A ministry note provided to lawmakers described the golf course as ideal because it would require less construction than two other possible sites that were on mountains.
