China and North Korea’s worst nightmare is coming true with US missile defenses in South Korea

In light of surging tensions between North Korea, its neighbors, and the US, South Korea has decided to deploy more powerful US missile defense batteries.

South Korean President Moon Jae In, who had initially been resistant to increased US missile defense deployments, requested talks on improving his country’s defensive posture in light of recent threats from North Korea.

“They’re moving forward,” Col. Rob Manning, a Pentagon spokesman, told South Korea’s Yonhap News. “In early May, we got initial intercept capability and they continue to build on that capability,” said Manning of the US moving the defenses into South Korea during a transitional period before Moon came to power.

The defense battery, known as the Terminal High-Altitude Area Defense, or THAAD, has the best record and widest range of any missile defense in the region, and could potentially blunt or defeat a North Korean missile attack on Seoul.

Read the whole story from Business Insider.

Featured image courtesy of Missile Defense Agency