© Yonap/Agence France PresseThousands of South Korean residents hold up red banners reading "We absolutely oppose THAAD deployment", during a rally againt the planned deployment of the US-built Terminal High Altitude Area Defense, THAAD, in Seongju town, 217 km southeast of Seoul, on July 13, 2016.
South Korea's military has announced the location of its THAAD anti-missile defense system, intended to deter threats from North Korea. The plan, which greatly angered regional powers, has led thousands of Koreans on to the streets in protest.
Seoul and Washington say the system is intended to both counter threats in the region and defend US troops stationed there. It forms the core element of the America's multilayered defense program. But the local residents fear it will lead to deteriorating health and will negatively impact the agricultural economy. The system's high-powered radar has been linked to infertility and cancer, according to local rumors, which the government dismissed as
"baseless."Some 3,000 people first took to the streets on Saturday, following the previous day's announcement of the US-backed Terminal High-Altitude Area Defense System, or THAAD. This was in Chilgok County - thought to have been the likeliest of the locations. The protests have since spread.
But on Wednesday the government revealed the location to be the county of Seongju, North Gyeongsang Province, about 135 miles (217km) southeast of Seoul.
"South Korea and the US' joint working group have proposed the Seongju area, North Gyeongsang Province, as the optimal place for the deployment ... and the countries' defense ministers have approved it," the Ministry of National Defense's Deputy Minister for Policy Yoo Jeh-seung announced on Wednesday, Yonhap news agency reports.
This led to no less than 5,000 farmers gathering in protest, according to Yonhap. Opposition continues to be so fierce that some officials have gone on hunger strikes. This was followed by the county's Governor Kim Hang-gon writing a letter to Seoul in his own blood, as the attendees observed.
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