CanalCNC Arauca:
South Korea’s defense ministry reached a tentative land-swap deal Wednesday with a major conglomerate to acquire the planned site for an advanced USA missile defense system aimed at countering the growing threat from North Korea. The main object of the bill would be to make it mandatory to receive the approval of the National Assembly when the appraisal value of the site being used for land compensation exceeds 20 billion won (US$17.10 million).
The Defense Ministry since early October has been in negotiations with Lotte International, which operates the Seongju golf course.
Seoul and Washington in July announced they will deploy a Thaad battery in South Korea to counter Pyongyang’s missile threats and later decided upon Seongju as the optimum location, prompting protests by local residents who are concerned about health effects of the battery’s powerful AN/TPY-2 radar. The ministry anticipates ownership of the golf course can be transferred as early as the end of this year or the beginning of next month. After the transfer of the property has been completed, the United States military is planning to build the facilities needed to store THAAD and then to deploy THAAD by next year.
“If the value of the Lotte golf course turns out to be higher than that of the state territory in Namyangju, Gyeonggi Province, the Defense Ministry is planning to provide cash or further real estate to fill the gap”, a South Korean military official told Yonhap News Agency. Once the deal is sealed, South Korea will hand the golf course over to the U.S. Forces Korea as stated under the Status of Forces Agreement signed between Seoul and Washington.
Meanwhile, U.S. Forces Korea chief Vincent Brooks said in a lecture on November 4 that the THAAD battery to be deployed here will be bigger than the one on Guam. Seongsan Battery, the site that was originally chosen for deploying THAAD, had an area of 116,584 square meters, just one-sixteenth of the site that the Ministry will be acquiring…
