[Yonhap News Photo]
SEOUL -- Trucks and vehicles carrying construction materials and workers were brought into the base of a U.S. missile shield Monday after thousands of South Korean riot police cleared roads occupied by protesters.
The Defense Ministry said that 22 vehicles transported construction materials, equipment and workers into the base for a Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) system in Seongju some 200 kilometers (124 miles) southeast of Seoul.
Scuffles erupted when riot police crushed a sit-in by 200 residents and activists on a bridge near the base and dragged them away one by one. Some 3,000 riot police were mobilized for a three-hour operation and a dozen people were slightly injured.
Military officials want quick work to repair the leaky roofs of barracks and build sewage treatment facilities and amenities for hundreds of South Korean and American soldiers who have used temporary facilities, relying on individual field rations for lunch, since the deployment of a THAAD battery was completed last year.
Two THAAD missile launchers were installed in April last year at the base and four more were installed five months later. The system consists of launchers, interceptors, a fire control and communications unit, and a powerful X-band radar using strong electromagnetic waves. Activists and residents in Seongju oppose it for emitting strong electromagnetic waves and fear North Korean missile attacks.
China insisted the THAAD system would "seriously" hurt strategic interests of China and other countries as well as the security balance in Northeast Asia. Theoretically, the radar can monitor missile movements in eastern parts of China.
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