National Defense Magazine reports that “the senior State Department official for East Asia said Oct. 12 that anti-missile programs — like the planned terminal high altitude area defense (THAAD) system in South Korea — could prove successful in deterring North Korea’s nuclear and ballistic missile ambitions.”

“‘Systems like THAAD and other missile defense systems make it harder, not easier, for North Korea to threaten us with missiles,’ said Daniel Russel, assistant secretary of state for East Asia and Pacific affairs, during a breakfast meeting with reporters in Washington, D.C.”

“The United States’ planned deployment of the Lockheed Martin-developed THAAD in South Korea is part of the international pressure being put on the communist country — known as the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, or DPRK — after its most recent nuclear test. That also includes United Nations instigated sanctions.”