The South Korean move triggered protests from villagers and criticism from China. South Korea's Defense Ministry says such worries are groundless and no such issues have been reported at THAAD sites in other countries.
Analysts say any North Korean counter strike would draw a quick response from the United States, South Korea and Japan that could further escalate the conflict, draw in China, and lead to a second Korean war. The battery is expected to be operational by the end of the year, it added.
The United States and South Korea agreed previous year to deploy the THAAD to counter the threat of missile launches by North Korea. They could block North Korean money in Chinese banks for example.
Despite the buildup, President Donald Trump has reportedly settled on a strategy that emphasizes increased pressure on North Korea with the help of China, the North's only major ally, instead of military options or trying to overthrow North Korea's government. Speaking at a daily news briefing in Beijing on Wednesday, Foreign Ministry spokesman Geng Shuang said China urged the USA and South Korea to withdraw the system.
The senior U.S. Navy officer overseeing military operations in the Pacific says U.S. naval forces in the region are capable of defending themselves against any missiles North Korea may fire at them.
South Korea's navy has said it plans to hold a joint drill with the US strike group late this month. "A single volley", a Strafor report said, "could deliver more than 350 metric tons of explosives across the South Korean capital, roughly the same amount of ordnance dropped by 11 B-52 bombers".
A spokesman for Mr Moon said moving the parts to the site "ignored public opinion and due process" and demanded it be suspended.
TV footage showed large trailers in camouflage paint carrying what appeared to be missile-related equipment entering a golf course in the southern county of Seongju on Wednesday morning.
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The odds of a shutdown rise the further the issue gets kicked down the road, believes Goldman Sachs analyst Alec Phillips. Trump has proposed a $30 billion spending boost for the Pentagon for the rest of this fiscal year.
"The Chinese side strongly urges the United States and South Korea to cancel the deployment and withdraw the equipment", the spokesman noted.
"We will continue our fight and there's still time for Thaad to be actually up and running so we will fight until equipment is withdrawn from the site and ask South Korea's new government to reconsider the plan", protester Kim Jong-kyung told Reuters news agency.
But the timing, as the United States increases its military presence in the area, allows North Korea to remind its opponents that it could cause crippling damage with conventional artillery to highly populated areas in South Korea. An unidentified North Korean Foreign Ministry spokesman said the US administration's policy to maximize pressure on North Korea was "little short of lighting the fuse of total war", the state news agency reported.
The nuclear-powered submarine USS Michigan, armed with 154 cruise missiles of the type launched against Syria earlier this month, arrived at the South Korean port of Busan, with the aircraft carrier USS Carl Vinson on its way. Anti-THAAD protesters in South Korea have taken to singing "Chant of Love" at many of their rallies.
Beijing worries about the cost of war in terms of life and capital but also the aftermath of a North Korean loss: a likely refugee influx into China and a unified Korea, allied with the United States, with U.S. troops moving up to the North Korea-China border.
The Trump administration has warned that all options, including a military strike, are on the table to block North Korea from developing a nuclear-tipped missile that could reach the US mainland.
Japan's Foreign Ministry announced that China's envoy for North Korea, Wu Dawei, was arriving in Tokyo on Tuesday for talks with Kanasugi that may take place later this week.
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