China has lodged a stern protest against South Korea over the deployment of four additional Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) launchers, according to the foreign ministry.
The comment was made by Foreign Ministry spokesman Geng Shuang during a regular press briefing on Thursday, according to Reuters.
It comes just one day after Geng said that China « expresses serious concern » over the decision to deploy the additional launchers, adding that such a move can « in no way address the security concerns of the relevant countries » involved in the North Korean standoff.
Instead, it will « only severely undermine regional strategic balance and jeopardize the strategic security interests of China and other regional countries.
« Moreover, it will exacerbate the tensions and confrontation on the Korean Peninsula and complicate the Korean Peninsula issue, » he said on Wednesday.
Geng also said that China urges the US and South Korea to « immediately stop the relevant deployment and remove the relevant equipment. »
South Korea deployed the four additional THAAD launchers to the US Forces Korea (USFK) base in Seongju early Thursday, just four days after Pyongyang launched its sixth and most powerful nuclear test.
The decision to deploy the launchers prompted some 400 protesters to turn up in front of the administrative building in Seongju. Thirty-eight people, including six officers, were injured during scuffles between police and demonstrators, a fire department official in Seongju told AP.
Four civilians also tried to cross the fence of the THAAD site before being arrested and taken to Kimcheon police station for investigation.
