SEOUL: US troops began delivering a missile defense system that has infuriated China to a deployment site in South Korea Wednesday, amid heightened tensions over the North’s nuclear ambitions. Washington is urging Beijing—Pyongyang’s sole major ally—to do more to rein it in, but the Asian giant has reacted with fury to the planned installation of the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) system. The US and ally South Korea say its deployment, agreed last year, is intended to guard against missile threats from the nuclear-armed North. Chinese President Xi Jinping called Monday for “restraint” regarding North Korea in a telephone conversation with Trump. US defense leaders and other top officials are to give a classified briefing on North Korea to all senators in an unusual meeting at the White House later Wednesday.

Source: Manila Times April 26, 2017 05:37 UTC