South Korea Needs THAAD Missile Defense (The Heritage Foundation)

(Source: The Heritage Foundation) Despite escalating North Korean nuclear and missile threats, South Korea resists implementing a more effective defense of its populace and critical military targets. Seoul refrains from deploying more capable interceptors and linking its network into a more comprehensive and capable allied network. President Park Geun-hye maintains a policy of "strategic ambiguity" due to Chinese pressure against U.S. deployment of the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) to South Korea. Seoul should instead exercise its sovereign right to defend the country and its citizens against the North Korean threat brought on, in part, by Beijing's unwillingness to...