Despite severe condemnation from the peace-loving countries in the world, the communist state has recently carried out its fourth nuclear test on January 6, 2016, claiming that it was a hydrogen bomb. Nonetheless, on top of this, ignoring repeated international warnings, it has shamelessly launched a long range rocket carrying what it calls an Earth observation satellite on February 7, 2016. The launch immediately triggered not only the regional powers to enter into high alert but also the ROK to stand on razor edge.

While the UN Security Council is poised to issue an ever stronger resolution against North Korea, especially the United States and Japan have already issued respective standalone sanctions against the communist regime to have it pay a bitter price for its repeated violations. Of course the above situation has created a tinderbox for South Korea which is still technically at war and now must take urgent measures.

In a bid to cope with the present urgent situation, the ROK government has officially begun talks with the United States to deploy a Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) battery in our territory to counter North Korean missile threats. In addition, South Korea has shut down the Gaeseong Industrial Complex to halt cash inflow to the NK regime.

As to the decision on ROK's THAAD deployment on the Korean peninsula, China has voiced a strong objection, claiming that such a deployment would threaten its security. Needles to repeat, it is an absolute right for a sovereign nation to mobilize every possible measure to defend its own territory and people deterring outside threats. In this context, such objections as China’s toward ROK's plan to deploy THAAD battery in her territory will surely draw  critical condemnations.

For example, according to reports, China, citing its security as an excuse, has built a strong military base and deployed surface-to-air missiles in a disputed island in the southeast Asian waters despite stern warnings from the United States and the neighboring countries. What China has done by fortifying a military base in the hotly contested island for its own security does not differ from what South Korea plans to deploy, the THAAD to deter North Korea's escalating threats.

Persistent arguments and comments that China has recently sent to the ROK on THAAD deployment are a direct intervention in the ROK's internal affair. We the citizens of the Republic of Korea are sick and tired of North Korea's endless saber rattling in the region. Therefore, we Koreans will resolutely say to China "it's none of your business" if China keeps interfering in the ROK's internal affair.