New THAAD site prompts another protest

By Jung Min-ho

The government’s decision to change the location for a U.S. anti-missile battery has calmed protesters near the original site ― but at the expense of new opposition from the new one.

Residents of Gimcheon, a city about 8 kilometers from the Lotte Skyhill Country Club, the alternate site for the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) battery, have vowed to fight the decision, saying they may block all the roads leading to the city if necessary.

Na Yong-min and Park Woo-do, co-leaders of the Gimcheon protest committee against THAAD, have been walking from the city to Cheong Wa Dae in protest since Sept. 24. When they arrive there sometime next week, they plan to give the presidential office their protest letter.

The committee said it cannot trust the government’s claim that the THAAD system is not a threat to health or the environment.

“If the THAAD system does not cause any radiation hazard as the government claims, there was no reason to change the location in the first place,” the committee said in a statement. “The flip-flop is totally irresponsible, insensible and unacceptable.”

The golf course administratively belongs to Seongju. However, it is close to a populous area of Gimcheon, where 13,000 people live 8 kilometers from the site.

When the ministry chose the first site near the villages and farms in Seongju in July, it actively promoted that electromagnetic waves emitted by the AN/TPY-2 radar “would be absolutely harmless” for people more than 100 meters away.

On Friday, however, the ministry chose a low-key strategy by simply submitting its decision and back-up data to the National Assembly, in an apparent attempt to minimize media coverage over the controversial issue.

In making the decision, the committee said, the government ignored the residents’ opinions. “We could have talked through the issue. But instead, the ministry totally ignored us in the whole process,” it said. “We will cooperate with every protester against THAAD until the government revokes the decision.”

With Gimcheon Mayor Park Bo-saeng leading the angry crowd, the protest may expand to the rest of the city, where more than 140,000 people live.

The ministry has also faced protests from Won Buddhism, which has some significant sites near the golf club. In the wake of the decision, it immediately formed an emergency measures committee to fight back.

Meanwhile, most protesters in Seongju have quelled and Seongju County Mayor Kim Hang-gon has not expressed opposition to the ministry’s latest decision.

The golf club is located at an altitude of 680 meters above sea level, which is higher than the previous location, an air defense base at an altitude of 380 meters. The club is also 18 kilometers away from any residential areas in Seongju.

The ministry said it plans to deploy the THAAD system by the end of 2017.