U.S. deploys missile defense system in South Korea

The United States today deployed a missile defense system in South Korea to counter ongoing threats from North Korea. The deployment began just hours before an unusual Trump administration briefing on Pyongyang for the full Senate. Lawmakers boarded buses on Capitol Hill to travel en masse to the White House. Chinese officials and some South Koreans, including presidential front-runner Moon Jae-in, decried the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) system. But South Korea’s current leaders and U.S. officials say it’s necessary to act as a deterrent to continuous threats from North Korea. Pyongyang’s state-run newspaper claimed the People’s Army has “no limit” to its strike power, including miniaturized nuclear weapons and submarine-launched ballistic missiles. Experts debate those claims, but most agree Kim Jong-Un’s totalitarian regime is gaining military prowess. The U.S. Navy has deployed several ships to the Korean Peninsula amid rising regional tensions. Pyongyang threatened to sink the aircraft carrier USS Carl Vinson with one blow, a capability it likely doesn’t have.