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It is not the technology, it is the political will that’s getting in the way of cooperation

China has sought to court South Korea’s newly elected president, Moon Jae-in, who favours better ties with Beijing and Pyongyang. Foreign Minister Wang Yi last month called on Moon’s administration “to take concrete action to pull out the thorn stuck in the throat of China-South Korea relations.”

This week, Moon ordered an investigation into how the final components of the missile shield arrived in the country without his knowledge. He has said he wants to review how the decision to deploy the system was made.

The threat from North Korea is constantly growing. The country has conducted nine ballistic missile tests this year, including a rocket on May 14 that it said could carry a “large-size, heavy nuclear warhead” over long distances, putting it within reach of U.S. military facilities on the island of Guam.

Yonhap

North Korea suggested in April that Australia could be a target because of the presence of U.S. troops near Darwin, which it saw as evidence that America was planning a nuclear war. Defense strategists in Australia, which has no missile defense system, are now discussing how to better protect itself.

Washington and Canberra are discussing an upgrade of Australia’s Jindalee over-the-horizon radar network, which is now used to detect aircraft but could be adapted to detect incoming missiles, according to Bitzinger. Australia is also planning to equip its three destroyers now under construction with the Aegis radar-and-combat system, which could be retrofitted for SM-3 missiles designed to take out medium-range ballistic missiles.