Chinese media warns S Korean firm over THAAD

South Korea’s Lotte Group will face severe consequences if it allows the South Korean government to deploy a US anti-missile system on land that now forms part of a golf course it owns, China’s state-run Xinhua news agency has warned. According to Reuters, the comments come soon after Lotte said this month that Chinese authorities had halted work at a multi-billion-dollar real estate project following a fire inspection, amid South Korea’s worries that Beijing is retaliating for its plans to host the system. China has repeatedly expressed opposition to South Korea’s planned deployment later this year of the US Terminal High Altitude Area Defence (THAAD) system, which Seoul and Washington say is needed to defend against North Korea. China worries the system’s powerful radar can penetrate its territory.