Last Monday, the U.S., together with South Korea, has just commenced the installation of the anti-missile system in South Korea. It is called the THAAD or the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense system.
Due to North Korea's recent launching of ballistic missiles last Monday, South Korea was forced to continue accelerating the pace of the THAAD's deployment. This was primarily to safeguard the nation in case North Korea fires at them.
However, despite its main purpose of only acting as a defense, China sees this move by the Americans and the South Koreans as threatening to the overall security of the Chinese nation. According to The Week, Geng Shuang, the spokesman of the Chinese Foreign Ministry says that China is strictly opposing the anti-missile system's deployment.
He adds that China will take the necessary steps to ensure the security of its country. With this, a threatening message is added saying that the U.S. and South Korea will shoulder the consequences if ever the missile system continues its deployment.
Perhaps this is due to the fact that China fears that the THAAD will not only be able to detect the North Korean missiles, but the Chinese ones as well. Because of this, it firmly opposes its installation in its South Korean neighbor.
According to SMH, China is still continuing with its K-pop ban, removing all Korean dramas and blocks all K-pop music from streaming on the various social media platforms in the country. This has surely dealt a serious blow not only in the political affairs of the region, but also with the Korean industry as well.
K-pop is not only a phenomenon in Korea, but in China and neighboring countries as well. Currently, China is one of the biggest markets for the K-pop industry. However, because of the recent tensions that continues to increase as each passing moment goes by, it is much likely that the K-pop industry, and the overall security of South Korea will be at risk.
The THAAD anti-missile system is reported to be ready by the month of April this year.
