U.S. High-Altitude Missile System For S. Korea Upsets China, N. Korea, Russia, Poses Problems For South

The specter of Chinese warplanes buzzing U.S. and Japanese planes adds urgency to U.S. pressure for high-altitude defense in Asia against a still more formidable threat: that of missiles fired by North Korea and maybe even China.

Both the Pentagon and Japan’s defense ministry have protested the close calls with Chinese planes while China threatens still more of them and complains about U.S. dreams of installing a “Terminal High-Altitude Area Defense” system in South Korea.

China, North Korea and, most recently, Russia all seem to fear that installation of the advanced missile-deterrence on South Korean soil would increase the danger of a regional war despite U.S. assurances that the system would only be to ward off missile attacks on South Korea and Japan.

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