S Korea’s Moon orders probe after missile shield surprise

Bloomberg

South Korea’s new president, Moon Jae-in, ordered an investigation into how the final components of a controversial U.S. missile shield had arrived in the country without his knowledge.
The president initiated the probe after learning that a complete set of six launchers were on South Korean soil, Moon’s spokesman, Yoon Young-chan, told a news conference Tuesday. Previous Defense Ministry statements — including a briefing given to the president last week — had confirmed the deployment of only two launchers for the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense system, or Thaad. “Moon found this very shocking” and called Defense Minister Han Min-koo to confirm that the four launchers were already in the country, Yoon told reporters. How they were deployed, who made the decision and why the information was kept from citizens and the new government were questions that would be investigated, he said.