Jack Nicklaus Course Picked to Thwart North Korean Missiles (1)

(Bloomberg) -- A Jack Nicklaus-designed golf course in South Korea was picked Friday as the new site for a U.S. missile system aimed at defending the country from any North Korean attack.

The decision comes after more than two months of protests over the original plan to locate Terminal High-Altitude Area Defense, known as Thaad, in the mountainous county of Seongju more than 200 kilometers (125 miles) southeast of Seoul. The missile defense system will now be located nearby at the Lotte Group’s Skyhill Country Club, according to South Korea’s Defense Ministry.

The move, just weeks after Kim Jong Un’s regime conducted its fifth nuclear test, may appease some villagers who fiercely opposed putting Thaad in Seongju due to concerns over how its powerful radars would impact their health. Even so, President Park Geun-hye’s administration still faces other obstacles to moving ahead with the defense system.

Park was scheduled to host a luncheon at the presidential Blue House on Friday with the commander and generals of the United States Forces Korea, her office said by text message. She was planning to emphasize the importance of a firm joint defense posture amid escalating provocations from North Korea, according to the message.

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China and Russia remain opposed to Thaad as they believe it will destabilize the region, with Beijing considering economic retaliation if South Korea deploys the missile shield. The issue has prompted China to give the cold shoulder to Park, only months after the two nations hailed ties as the best in history.

“China has many times made clear its opposition to the U.S. deploying its THAAD anti-missile system in South Korea,” Chinese defense ministry spokesman Yang Yujun told reporters in Beijing on Thursday. “We will pay close attention to this development, and consider taking necessary measures to safeguard our national strategic security and maintain the regional strategic balance.”

“It is worthwhile emphasizing that we Chinese mean what we say,” Yang added.

Hunger Strike

The new site could also prompt opposition from other groups of people, according to local media reports. The golf course owned by retail giant Lotte is only 500 meters (0.3 miles) from a Won Buddhism shrine and about 25 kilometers to Gimcheon City, home to about 140,000 residents. This compares with the 46,000 population of Seongju county.

Gimcheon’s Mayor Park Bo-saeng started Tuesday a hunger strike in protest at the defense ministry’s expected move. He agrees on the need for the Thaad on the peninsula, and doesn’t mind having it in his city, but doesn’t want it near the golf course because it’s only seven kilometers from a new town, according to his office.

While Park doesn’t see the need to seek approval from lawmakers for the move, Chung Sye-kyun, the speaker of the National Assembly, told reporters in Seoul on Wednesday that the ratification process will be required as the defense ministry needs to tap the budget to buy the land from Lotte. The Minjoo, the largest opposition party, also agrees on the need for Thaad deployment, but believes there should be stronger diplomatic efforts to resolve disputes with neighboring countries.

North Korea has threatened dire consequences, using language it typically employs to oppose military moves it views as aggressive. Pyongyang’s state-run Korean Central News Agency said in a commentary on Sept. 21 that South Korea would be “exposed to nuclear strikes” if it deploys Thaad.

(Updates with Park meeting U.S. military officials in fourth paragraph.)

--With assistance from Ting Shi To contact the reporter on this story: Kanga Kong in Seoul at kkong50@bloomberg.net. To contact the editors responsible for this story: Daniel Ten Kate at dtenkate@bloomberg.net, Andy Sharp, Peter Pae

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