North Korea LATEST: Seoul orders urgent probe into THAAD defence over rising WW3 fears – Express.co.uk

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President Moon Jae-in claims the US Defence Ministry failed to inform him that four more launchers for the controversial system had been brought into the country.

And he said it was very shocking to learn about the installation days after the fact.

Now his government will launch an investigation into the new launchers amid reports they could back off from the ongoing conflict.

REUTERS

REUTERS

The Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) system battery was initially deployed in March in the southeastern region of Seongju.

The missile defence system was installed with two of its maximum load of six launchers to counter a growing North Korean missile threat.

But Mr Moon has called for a more moderate approach to Pyongyangs threat - and even called for a parliamentary review of the THAAD system in his recent election campaign.

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A South Korean F-15K jet fighter takes off during the 'Max Thunder' South Korea-US military joint air exercise at a US air base in the southwestern port city of Gunsan

He also hopes to encourage engagement despite as the reclusive state continuing to pursue its nuclear weapons and ballistic missile programmes in defiance of UN Security Council resolutions and threats of more sanctions.

The United States has hit back against the ongoing programme and currently has 28,500 troops stationed in South Korea.

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It also has a mutual defence treaty with Seoul dating back to the end of the 1950-53 Korean War, which ended in a truce that has left the peninsula in a technical state of war.

South Korea's Defence Ministry said on Tuesday it had conducted a joint drill with a US supersonic B-1B Lancer bomber on Monday, after North Korea's state media accused America of staging "a nuclear bomb dropping drill".

The US military in South Korea did not have immediate comment on Moon's comments. The South Korean military also has yet to comment.

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North Korea LATEST: Seoul orders urgent probe into THAAD defence over rising WW3 fears - Express.co.uk