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Trucks blocked by activists while trying to enter THAAD deployment site

Xinhua, March 29, 2017 Adjust font size:

Five to six trucks loaded with unidentified equipment were blocked by activists Wednesday while trying to enter the site in southeast South Korea where Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) is scheduled to be installed.

The trucks got to the Soseong-ri village in Seongju county at about 8 a.m. local time, attempting to pass the entrance road to the golf course, where Seoul and Washington agreed to deploy one THAAD battery.

Almost 100 residents and civil group activists stood in the road to block the trucks from passing it through, one of the activists joining the anti-THAAD movement told Xinhua over phone.

The trucks hauled off to a nearby place and tried once again at about noon to enter the THAAD deployment site.

The attempt also failed as people blocked the trucks, which returned to an unidentified place two hours later. Hundreds of police officers and scores of police buses surrounded the residents and activists, threatening to make them dispersed as they were in violation of law.

Neither violence nor clash between the residents and police has happened yet, said the activist participating in the physical blockade.

The camouflaged equipment, which were carried by the trucks, were estimated to be machines for a geological survey that is required for both construction and environmental evaluation.

South Korea and the United States have gained speed in the THAAD deployment ahead of a presidential election slated for May 9.

The allies agreed in July 2016 to install the U.S. missile defense system by the end of this year, but the installation date was brought forward to sometime between June and August, and eventually to as early as April.

Two mobile launchers and the first elements of THAAD arrived on March 6 and were transported to an unknown base of the U.S. Forces Korea (USFK).

Local state-run broadcaster KBS reported the delivery of THAAD's X-band radar to South Korea on March 16, but the USFK declined to confirm it. Endit