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| South Korea and the United States brought missile defense equipment and other items into an American military base Friday in a surprise overnight operation aimed at skirting opposition from local residents. Yonhap |
South Korea and the United States brought missile defense equipment and other items into an American military base Friday in a surprise overnight operation aimed at skirting opposition from local residents.
U.S. Forces Korea has operated a full six-launcher Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) battery in the country's central county of Seongju since 2017. Due to strong opposition by local residents, the U.S. military has used air transportation to move supplies.
"The defense ministry is supporting ground transport for USFK's Seongju base that began last night and will continue through early Friday," the ministry said in a release.
The transportation finished at around 6 a.m.
The delivered materials included military equipment but exactly what went in was not immediately clear. The ministry said it was "to improve working conditions for Korean and American troops there and to replace some decrepit equipment."
"USFK periodically conducts vehicular resupply and support missions to its formations and installations across South Korea," USFK said in a statement sent to Yonhap News Agency.
It added that the move is to maintain a high "fight tonight" readiness level and to provide a robust combined defense posture to protect South Korea against any threat or adversary.
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| Yonhap |
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| Yonhap |
USFK and South Korea's defense ministry "have maintained close coordination, cooperation and collaborative efforts to ensure this mission is conducted to minimize and prevent any inconvenience in the least disruptive manner for the local Korean population and all parties involved," it said.
The construction to improve residential facilities for the troops began in August last year.
A ministry official said the ground transport was inevitable to move some hardware, and the government had discussions with local residents regarding the matter several times but failed to win their full consent.
No major conflicts with the residents there have been reported so far, he added.
The THAAD deployment has been one of the most sensitive issues for South Korea, as China has taken economic retaliatory measures for Seoul's hosting of the battery. Seoul and Washington have stressed that the system aims only to better cope with the growing missile threats posed by North Korea. (Yonhap)
