Story highlights THAAD is designed to take down North Korean missilesBeijing sees it as a strategic threatSeoul (CNN) The first pieces of a US-built missile defense system designed to mitigate the threat of North Korean missiles arrived at the Osan Air Base in South Korea Monday night, according to the US military. The announcement comes just a day after North Korea test-fired four ballistic missiles into the Sea of Japan, also known as the East Sea. With North Korea upping the amount of missile and nuclear tests last year, the US and South Korea have publicly stressed the need to speed up the deployment of the technology, which is called the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) system. It's designed to shoot down incoming missiles that threaten civilian populations, akin to shooting a bullet with another bullet, experts say. "Continued provocative actions by North Korea, to include yesterday's launch of multiple missiles, only confirm the prudence of our alliance decision last year to deploy THAAD to South Korea," Adm. Harry Harris, commander, US Pacific Command, said in a news release.

Source: CNN March 07, 2017 01:41 UTC