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Thaad protesters prevail as Seongju County officials retreat from structure dismantlement

Published: 21 Nov. 2025, 18:14

Seongju County officials move to dismantle structures protesting the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (Thaad) missile system near Jinbat Bridge in Seongju County, North Gyeongsang, on Nov. 21, as anti-Thaad activists confront them in protest. [YONHAP]

SEONGJU COUNTY, North Gyeongsang — A standoff between Seongju County officials and activists protesting the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (Thaad) system ended in retreat for the local government Friday after villagers in Sosong-ri packed a narrow bridge near the U.S. missile defense base to stop crews sent to dismantle protest structures.

A few days earlier, county officials said they would enforce an order to remove the structures that residents and activists have maintained in protest of the Thaad system, which they say was deployed without local consent. The county says the structures are illegal.

County workers arrived at the bridge leading to the base at around 10 a.m. with a crane and about 100 officials, telling protesters they would carry out an administrative enforcement order on tents, containers, portable toilets and other facilities placed along the access road to the base.

“We will proceed with administrative enforcement for illegally installed structures that we have repeatedly asked to be removed,” one official told the crowd. The official urged them to move back so demolition could begin.

Police and protestors are locked in a standoff as Seongju County officials move to dismantle structures protesting the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense missile system near Jinbat Bridge in Seongju County, North Gyeongsang, on Nov. 21. [NEWS1]

About 30 residents and activists wearing “NO THAAD” jackets refused to step aside, standing in front of the encampment and the small outbuildings beside it.

When officials accused them of obstructing the law, they responded, “This isn’t an illegal act but resistance to an unjust measure.”

The standoff stretched for nearly two hours before county workers backed down around noon. About 300 police officers who had been stationed nearby in case of clashes also withdrew.

Members of a civic group opposing the Thaad system deployment and local residents cheered as the equipment and personnel left.

"We gathered from dawn to defend the Jinbat Peace Temple. I hope this continues all the way until Thaad is removed," one resident said.

Seongju County said it had issued a notice on Nov. 21 of last year demanding that the structures be removed by Dec. 6, 2024, but the deadline passed without action.

Members of a protest group hold a prayer for peace at a Won Buddhism chapel near Jinbat Bridge in Seongju County, North Gyeongsang, on Nov. 21, ahead of a planned administrative removal of their structures near the entrance to the U.S. Terminal High Altitude Area Defense base. [NEWS1]

The Jinbat Peace Temple, one of the main structures at the site, was built in March 2017 by Won Buddhist clergy and local residents opposed to the Thaad deployment.

The site sits at Jinbat Bridge, the only land route up to the Thaad base and a pilgrimage path associated with Jeongsan, the second head dharma master of Won Buddhism.

Four structures, including the Jinbat Peace Temple, remain in the area, which the county views as long-abandoned illegal installations.

In a statement on Tuesday, the anti-Thaad civic group denounced the county’s plan as “a declaration that the state will trample yet again the prayer site that has defended peace in the state’s absence over the past 10 years.”

It also called the move “a throwback to the era of state violence repeatedly deployed under the Park Geun-hye government, continued through the Moon Jae-in administration’s additional Thaad deployment and now repeated under an outdated decision.”

This article was originally written in Korean and translated by a bilingual reporter with the help of generative AI tools. It was then edited by a native English-speaking editor. All AI-assisted translations are reviewed and refined by our newsroom.
BY BAEK KYUNG-SEO [[email protected]]