Opportunity for ROK to change THAAD policy

The unprecedented ruling of the Republic of Korea's constitutional court on Friday made Park Geun-hye the first president to be removed from office after impeachment. The ROK has to complete a presidential by-election within 60 days, and the next president faces the formidable task of righting the wrongs of the Park administration.

From a geopolitical perspective, the decision to deploy a US missile defense system tops the series of mistakes committed by Park during her four years in office. The move caused China-ROK relations to plummet to the lowest level since the establishment of diplomatic ties between them.

The ROK's retail giant Lotte Group agreed to a land swap deal with the government on Feb 28 paving the way for the deployment of the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense anti-missile system in the country. In fact, a part of the THAAD battery and other related equipment have already reached the ROK - on March 6, to be precise.