It has been almost a decade since the sleepy South Korean village of Seongju was transformed overnight into a key location in the countryβs ability to counter an attack from North Korea.
Early on a spring morning, camouflaged trucks carrying the US-made terminal high-altitude area defense (THAAD) missile-defence system rolled into Seongju, as the countryβs government ignored protests from locals who said the deployment would make them a target for Pyongyangβs ballistic missiles.
The conservative government in Seoul, backed by Washington, insisted that Thaad was the most effective way to locate and destroy North Korean missiles before they threatened the South and the 28,500 US troops statio
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