THAAD increases peninsula risks

Since the United States and the Republic of Korea announced the deployment of the THAAD anti-missile system in the ROK on July 8, the situation in Northeast Asia has deteriorated.

At the recent Asia-Europe Meeting summit in Mongolia, Chinese Premier Li Keqiang did not meet with ROK President Park Geun-hye for talks although he held extensive and in-depth discussions with a number of other leaders.

A few days after the deployment of the Terminal High-Altitude Area Defense system in the ROK, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea warned that it would respond. It test-fired three ballistic missiles on Tuesday in an apparent reaction to the planned deployment of the advanced missile interception system, and Seoul has said Pyongyang is preparing to conduct a fifth nuclear test, which, if true, will add more uncertainties to the regional situation.