US deploys new Patriot missiles to South Korea

The United States has temporarily deployed an additional Patriot missile battery in South Korea in response to North Korea's nuclear test and a long-range rocket launch.

The US military command in South Korea made the announcement Saturday, adding that an air missile system from Fort Bliss, Texas, has been conducting ballistic missile training using the Patriot system at Osan Air Base near the South Korean capital Seoul, according to the Associated Press.

"Exercises like this ensure we are always ready to defend against an attack from North Korea," Lieutenant General Thomas Vandal, commander of the US Eighth Army, said in a statement.

"North Korea's continued development of ballistic missiles against the expressed will of the international community requires the alliance to maintain effective and ready ballistic missile defenses," he added.

The move comes amid long media speculations that the two countries are working on a Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) system deployment in South Korea, but they had kept the talks secret until after the recent launch by Pyongyang.

The possibility of THAAD deployment to the Korean peninsula has drawn criticism from Russia and China with critics saying the system is intended to help US radar spot missiles in other countries.

North Korea has also warned against the move, threatening of a nuclear war in the region and bolstering its armed forces if the THAAD deployment occurs.

US Secretary of State John Kerry was slated to meet with his Chinese and South Korean counterparts in Munich, to discuss the response to North Korea's actions.

Seoul and Washington will discuss where and exactly when the deployment can be made, a South Korean defense official said, adding that both parties want an early date.

The official said the move is meant to protect South Korea from North Korean threats and China and others have nothing to worry about.

The current standoff between the two Koreas flared after North Korea carried out a nuclear test last month, its fourth, followed by a long-range rocket launch on Sunday.

Seoul, in response, shut down an inter-Korean factory park that had been the rival Koreas' last major symbol of cooperation, arguing it had been used by Pyongyang to fund its nuclear and missile programs.

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