US missile defence plan in S. Korea criticised

Working together: Lavrov and Wang shaking hands after a joint press conference at the Foreign Affairs Ministry in Beijing. — EPA

BEIJING: China and Russia rapped US plans to put a missile defence system on the Korean peninsula, less than 24 hours after Pyongyang twice tested rockets thought to be capable of reaching American territory.

A series of missile tests and nuclear blasts by North Korea have pushed Seoul into talks with Washington about deploying the Uni­ted States’ sophisticated Termi­nal High Altitude Area Defence System (THAAD), which fires projectiles to smash into enemy missiles.