SEOUL: South Korean President Park Geun-hye said on Thursday the move to deploy a THAAD missile defense system was “inevitable” because of a growing threat from North Korea and that division in the South over its deployment is what Pyongyang seeks.
North Korea’s launch of three ballistic missiles on Tuesday was the latest evidence that the anti-missile system is needed, Park said at a National Security Council meeting.
This month’s announcement by South Korea and the United States to deploy a Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) unit with the US military in a rural melon-farming county in the South triggered loud protests from residents worried about possible negative health and environmental impacts.
“If we continue to be divisive and social confusion grows about a decision we had no choice but to make to protect the country and the lives of our people, it would be exactly where North Korea wants us to go,” Park said, according to her office.
North Korea said on Wednesday it had conducted a ballistic missile test that simulated preemptive strikes against South Korean ports and airfields used by the US military, likely referring to the three missiles fired on Tuesday.
The missiles flew between 500 km and 600 km (300-360 miles) into the sea off its east coast and could have hit anywhere in South Korea if the North intended, the South’s military said.
Many residents of Seongju, about 200 km (120 miles) from the capital Seoul, joined by opposition members of parliament and civic groups, have demanded the government scrap the decision to site the THAAD battery there.
Thousands of Seongju residents were expected to hold a protest rally in central Seoul later on Thursday.
That follows a raucous standoff last week between residents and the country’s prime minister, who was pelted with eggs and plastic bottles and trapped inside a bus for several hours when he visited the county to explain the THAAD decision. Some residents blamed outside leftist activists for the incident.
Park said North Korea could stage an act of aggression at any time, including possibly a fifth nuclear test or cybertattack against the networks of national and financial institutions.
The North has also increased military equipment near the land and sea border separating the countries, she told the security meeting.
The two Koreas remain technically at war under a truce that ended fighting in the 1950-53 Korean War.
Tension on the Korean peninsula has been high since North Korea conducted its fourth nuclear test in January and followed that with a satellite launch and a string of test launches of various missiles.
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South Korea president calls for unity over THAAD deployment
South Korea president calls for unity over THAAD deployment
Nigerian police deny church attacks as residents insist 168 people are held by armed groups
Kaduna State Police Commissioner Muhammad Rabiu described news reports of the attacks as rumors
It is common for police and locals to have contradicting accounts of attacks in Nigeria’s hard-hit villages
KADUNA, Nigeria: Nigerian police denied reports of simultaneous church attacks in northwestern Kaduna state over the weekend, even as residents shared accounts of kidnappings at the churches in interviews Tuesday.
A state lawmaker, Usman Danlami Stingo, told The Associated Press on Monday that 177 people were abducted by an armed group Sunday. Eleven escaped and 168 are still missing, according to the lawmaker and residents interviewed by AP.
Kaduna State Police Commissioner Muhammad Rabiu described news reports of the attacks as rumors, saying the police visited one of the three churches in the district of Kajuru and “there was no evidence of the attack.”
It is common for police and locals to have contradicting accounts of attacks in Nigeria’s hard-hit villages.
“I am one of the people who escaped from the bandits. We all saw it happen, and anyone who says it didn’t happen is lying,” said Ishaku Dan’azumi, the village head of Kurmin Wali.
Nigeria is struggling with several armed groups that launch attacks across the country, including Boko Haram and Daesh-WAP, which are religiously motivated, and other amorphous groups commonly called “bandits.”
Rights group Amnesty International condemned the “desperate denial” of the attack by the police and government.
“The latest mass abduction clearly shows President Bola Tinubu and his government have no effective plan for ending years of atrocities by armed groups and gunmen that killed thousands of people,” the group said in a statement.
A Kaduna-based Christian group, the Christian Solidarity Worldwide Nigeria, said in a press release that security operatives did not allow its members to visit the sites of the attacks.
“The military officer who stopped the CSWN car said there was a standing order not to allow us in,” Reuben Buhari, the group’s spokesperson, said.
The Chikun/Kajuru Active Citizens Congress, a local advocacy group, published a list of the hostages. The list could not be independently verified by the AP. Police did not respond to a request for questions on the list.
The Christian Association of Nigeria also verified the attacks and has a list of the hostages, according to a senior Christian leader in the state who spoke on condition of anonymity for fear of his safety.
“This happened, and our job is to help them. These people came, attacked and picked people from churches,” he said. “But I think they prefer to play the politics of denying, and I don’t think that’s what we want.”
Attacks against religious worship centers are common in Nigeria’s conflict-battered north. They are a part of the country’s complex security crisis that also affects schools, such as in November when hundreds of schoolchildren and their teachers were abducted in another part of Kaduna.
In the past few months, the West African nation has been in the crosshairs of the US government, which has accused the Nigerian government of not protecting Christians in the country, leading to a diplomatic rift. The USlaunched an attack against an alleged Daesh group members on Nigerian territory on Dec. 25, an operation the Nigerian government said it was aware of.
It is common for police and locals to have contradicting accounts of attacks in Nigeria’s hard-hit villages
KADUNA, Nigeria: Nigerian police denied reports of simultaneous church attacks in northwestern Kaduna state over the weekend, even as residents shared accounts of kidnappings at the churches in interviews Tuesday.
A state lawmaker, Usman Danlami Stingo, told The Associated Press on Monday that 177 people were abducted by an armed group Sunday. Eleven escaped and 168 are still missing, according to the lawmaker and residents interviewed by AP.
Kaduna State Police Commissioner Muhammad Rabiu described news reports of the attacks as rumors, saying the police visited one of the three churches in the district of Kajuru and “there was no evidence of the attack.”
It is common for police and locals to have contradicting accounts of attacks in Nigeria’s hard-hit villages.
“I am one of the people who escaped from the bandits. We all saw it happen, and anyone who says it didn’t happen is lying,” said Ishaku Dan’azumi, the village head of Kurmin Wali.
Nigeria is struggling with several armed groups that launch attacks across the country, including Boko Haram and Daesh-WAP, which are religiously motivated, and other amorphous groups commonly called “bandits.”
Rights group Amnesty International condemned the “desperate denial” of the attack by the police and government.
“The latest mass abduction clearly shows President Bola Tinubu and his government have no effective plan for ending years of atrocities by armed groups and gunmen that killed thousands of people,” the group said in a statement.
A Kaduna-based Christian group, the Christian Solidarity Worldwide Nigeria, said in a press release that security operatives did not allow its members to visit the sites of the attacks.
“The military officer who stopped the CSWN car said there was a standing order not to allow us in,” Reuben Buhari, the group’s spokesperson, said.
The Chikun/Kajuru Active Citizens Congress, a local advocacy group, published a list of the hostages. The list could not be independently verified by the AP. Police did not respond to a request for questions on the list.
The Christian Association of Nigeria also verified the attacks and has a list of the hostages, according to a senior Christian leader in the state who spoke on condition of anonymity for fear of his safety.
“This happened, and our job is to help them. These people came, attacked and picked people from churches,” he said. “But I think they prefer to play the politics of denying, and I don’t think that’s what we want.”
Attacks against religious worship centers are common in Nigeria’s conflict-battered north. They are a part of the country’s complex security crisis that also affects schools, such as in November when hundreds of schoolchildren and their teachers were abducted in another part of Kaduna.
In the past few months, the West African nation has been in the crosshairs of the US government, which has accused the Nigerian government of not protecting Christians in the country, leading to a diplomatic rift. The USlaunched an attack against an alleged Daesh group members on Nigerian territory on Dec. 25, an operation the Nigerian government said it was aware of.
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