According to South Korea media, a protest which degenerated into a clash with police officers has erupted in the Seong-Ju village of South Korea about 300km to Seoul rendering 38 people injured including six policemen, the Guardian reports.

The clash was ignited by the deployment of a US missile defense system aimed at countering possible attacks from North Korea. The missile systems, “Terminal High-Altitude Area Defense (Thaad)” was on the verge of installation at a golf course in the village when the protest began.

The South Korean president, Moon Jae-in, approved the full deployment of the Thaad system this week following North Korea’s detonation of a powerful nuclear device on Sunday.

Thousands of policemen were deployed to protect the Thaad systems which are four in number and are in addition to two other Thaad system batteries installed in the village in April which also birthed a similar clash.

In addition, US President Donald Trump, along with the South Korean Prime Minister, Moon and the Japanese prime minister, Shinzo Abe, are working towards an oil embargo against the North – a move outrightly opposed by China and Russia.

Meanwhile, the US is still unwavering in its threat to cut off trade with any nation doing business with North Korea. The US treasury secretary, Steve Mnuchin, made this disclosure on Wednesday. He said the US would fulfill its warnings if the UN Security Council failed to agree on additional sanctions when it meets next Monday.

“I have an executive order prepared. It’s ready to go to the president. It will authorise me to stop doing trade, and put sanctions on anybody that does trade with North Korea. The president will consider that at the appropriate time once he gives the UN time to act,” Mnuchin said.

Adegbite Adedotun