A U.S. Patriot missile-defense battery arrived in South Korea last week in the wake of a controversial announcement that the allies have agreed to base an even more advanced missile defense system on the peninsula.
(StarsandStripes)- The PAC-3 Patriot battery showed up on July 13 as part of an exercise aimed at quickly deploying U.S. air-defense crews from Japan to Korea in an emergency, a U.S. official told the South’s Yonhap news agency.
“The exercise is designed to enhance reception, staging, onward movement and integration capabilities,” said Capt. Joseph Reney, U.S. Forces Japan spokesman, who confirmed the deployment in an email Friday.
“After the joint military exercise, the Patriot Battery will be returning to Japan.”
North Korea fired three ballistic missiles into the sea Tuesday in a fiery answer to Seoul and Washington’s July 8 announcement that the Terminal High-Altitude Area Defense system, known as THAAD, would be deployed in a mountainous area southeast of Seoul by the end of next year.