Defense ministry to hold meeting with residents near THAAD base

Defense ministry officials were to hold a meeting with residents around a US THAAD missile defense base Monday in an effort to address their concerns, the ministry said, as protests against the base have shown no signs of letting up.

Residents in the central county of Seongju have long opposed the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) base in their town, resulting in clashes with police every time the government brings construction equipment and other items to the base.

Monday's meeting was to take place at the county government office attended by Vice Defense Minister Park Jae-min, County Gov. Lee Byoung-hwan and representatives from multiple regional organizations, according to the ministry.

The ministry said the talks will focus on addressing environmental and other concerns about the base.

"We hope the defense ministry and Seongju County can become partners for coexistence and protect national security and achieve regional development at the same time," the ministry said in a release, vowing to push for various resident support programs.

The US base was established in 2017, though the current deployment is temporary pending the results of an environmental assessment study now under way.

The government has said that recent shipments of goods onto the base were not meant to upgrade the unit but to guarantee basic living conditions for troops there. Still, residents have claimed that the moves are part of preparations for officially deploying the THAAD battery.

As an integral part of the US-led missile defense system, THAAD is designed to shoot down short-, medium- and intermediate-range ballistic missiles at a high altitude in their terminal phase, using a hit-to-kill method.

Seoul and Washington have stressed that the system aims to better cope with the growing missile threats posed by North Korea. (Yonhap)