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- ‘READY FOR WAR’: A US aircraft carrier loaded with fighter jets is steaming toward North Korea.
- Pyongyang is preparing for a “big and important event”.
- What is going on and what is likely to happen next?
A U.S. missile defense system that’s now being installed in South Korea will be operational “in the coming days,” says Adm. Harry Harris, commander of the U.S. Pacific Command.
President Trump and Defense Secretary James Mattis have said all options are on the table to counter what Harris called “the reckless North Korean regime” in his testimony Wednesday before the House Armed Services Committee. But Harris also stated, “We want to bring Kim Jong Un to his senses, not to his knees.”
Hours before the admiral spoke to members of Congress, parts of the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense missile system, or THAAD, began the trip to their deployment site in a rural part of South Korea.
“The overnight, unannounced operation came just six days after U.S. Forces Korea (USFK) secured the land in Seongju, North Gyeongsang Province, from the South Korean government,” the Yonhap News Agency reports.
US Pacific Command chief Adm. Harry Harris told the House Armed Services Committee that the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) missile defense system would be “operational in the coming days to be able to better defend South Korea against the growing North Korea threat.”
Parts of the system have already been moved to the planned deployment site, the South Korean Defense Ministry said Wednesday
THAAD was deployed to South Korea by the US in response to North Korea’s increased missile and nuclear tests, but the defense system drawn sharp opposition from China and Russia, who see it as also potentially neutralizing their nuclear deterrents.
The original goal was to have the complete system fully operational by the end of this year but the US and South Korea have publicly stressed the need to speed up the deployment of the technology as tensions have mounted with Pyongyang.
South Korean presidential candidate Moon Jae-in, who is expected to win the country’s election on May 9, has called for deployment to be discontinued until the election is over.
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US admiral: Chinese opposition ‘preposterous’
Harris said it was “preposterous” that China would take economic steps to try to stop South Korea from receiving a defensive system, which the US insists does not pose a threat to Beijing.
He added that China appears to be working to deter North Korea, as President Donald Trump has pushed his Chinese counterpart to do.
“I’m reasonably optimistic now that China is having an influence, and they are working in the right direction with regards to North Korea thanks to the efforts of our president and theirs,” Harris said.
The Pacific commander said that he was taking Kim Jong Un at his word that the North Korean leader is determined to develop a long-range nuclear missile that could strike the US and that should “provide us all a sense of urgency” to ensure US forces in the Pacific are prepared.
He said providing “credible combat power” was the best way to ease tensions on the Korean Peninsula.
“We want to bring Kim Jong Un to his senses, not to his knees,” Harris said.
READ MORE:
Harris says USS Vinson slip-up ‘his fault’
The Pacific commander cited the USS Carl Vinson carrier strike group deployment to northeast Asia as such a deterrent against North Korea’s rising threats, saying it was now in the Philippine Sea and “in strike range and power projection range of North Korea if called upon to do that.”
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Source: Youtube
The post BREAKING NEWS | Anti Missile System in South Korea Operational In ‘COMING DAYS’-‘READY FOR WAR’ appeared first on News Prepper.
