The row between Seoul and Beijing over the deployment of a U. S. missile defense system has seen China overtake even…
SEOUL —
The row between Seoul and Beijing over the deployment of a U. S. missile defense system has seen China overtake even former coloniser Japan in the ranking of South Koreans’ least favored countries, a survey shows.
Japan has consistently been South Koreans’ most disliked country after North Korea, mainly due to disputes over Tokyo’s wartime atrocities including the use of up to 200,000 Korean women as sexual slaves for Japanese troops.
But now South Korea and the U. S. have begun deploying the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) system to guard against missile threats from the nuclear-armed North, infuriating China, which sees it as compromising its own capabilities.
Beijing launched a series of measure against the South seen as economic retaliation, forcing dozens of South Korean retail stores in China to shut their doors and banning Chinese tour groups from visiting.
