Business Insider:
The powerful missile defense system that has North Korea, China, and Russia spooked is expected to make its debut in South Korea as soon as possible.
On Friday, Army General Vincent Brooks, commander of United States Forces Korea, said the deployment of the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) system will occur within the next 8 to 10 months.
“We want to do this as quickly as possible,” Pentagon spokesman Peter Cook told Business Insider during a press briefing.
“We believe that the THAAD system will be capable of helping to defend our ally South Korea,” Cook added.
In July, Washington formally agreed to equip Seoul with a THAAD battery to further defend the region amid the North’s missile tests.
“This year, Pyongyang successfully conducted two nuclear tests, an intercontinental ballistic missile test, breakthrough successes with its road-mobile intermediate-range missile and submarine-launched ballistic missile, re-entry vehicle technology, a new solid-fuel rocket engine, and an improved liquid-fuel ICBM engine,” Bruce Klingner, senior research fellow of Northeast Asia at the Heritage Foundation, told Business Insider.
What’s more, during one week in October, North Korea launched what are thought to be two Musudan intermediate-range ballistic missiles — one on October 15 and another on October 19….
