Golf club to become US anti-missile battery

A golf and country club in Seongju County, South Korea has been confirmed as the location to host a U.S. anti-missile battery to protect the country from North Korea.

The Chinese Defense Ministry has warned the US against deploying the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense system in South Korea, but they are going ahead regardless.

"We will pay close attention to relevant developments, and consider taking necessary actions to protect national strategic security and the regional strategic balance," Chinese Defense Ministry spokesman Yang Yujun told a monthly news briefing on Thursday as cited by Reuters. "What needs to be stressed is that Chinese people mean what they say."

Officials made field surveys of the Lotte Skyhill Country Club, designed by Jack Nicklaus, to see if it were capable of hosting the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) battery back in August when we first reported on this story.

The 960,000 square-meter 18-hole golf course and the 820,000 square-meter adjacent forest is owned by the South Korean Lotte Group. They had earlier purchased the 820,000 square-meter forest land adjacent to the course to construct nine additional holes, but the firm has no plan to begin such a construction as of now.

Lovely looking track!

How embattled Lotte Group Chairman Shin Dong-bin will respond to the news about his golf club is also drawing keen attention locally. Shin is currently facing a prosecution investigation for a host of allegations involving him and his family ranging from the creation of a slush fund to inter-subsidiary dealings and tax evasion.

And now they want to stick an anti-missile battery on his course. One can't help feeling a degree of sympathy for him over that! Playing a quiet game of golf with those bad boys in the background would be quite a weird experience we think.

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Click here or on the image below for more strange things that have been found on golf courses