RUSSIA and China united yesterday to oppose US plans to site anti-missile systems in South Korea on the pretext of North-South tensions.

Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi and his Russian counterpart Sergey Lavrov hit back at the scheme at a press conference following talks in Moscow.

Washington and Seoul began formal discussions last week on deploying the advanced Terminal High Altitude Area Defence (THAAD) anti-ballistic missile (ABM) system.

The move is ostensibly in response to North Korea’s recent fourth nuclear weapon test and a satellite launch.

South Korea lies just a few hundred miles from China’s heavily industrialised Manchuria region and the far-eastern Russian city of Vladivostok.

This would put US ABMs in a position to shoot down Russian or Chinese ballistic missiles, potentially rendering their deterrent ineffective and allowing the US to launch a nuclear first strike with impunity.

Mr Wang said installing the system in South Korea would “inflict direct harm to the strategic security interests of China and Russia.”

He declared: “We stand firmly against the deployment of the THAAD missile defence system to South Korea under the pretext of the nuclear problem of the Korean peninsula.

“Such plans go beyond the defence requirements in the region, violate the strategic balance and would lead to a new arms race.”

Mr Lavrov said the plans, which the US “has been nursing together with the Republic of Korea, exceed any conceivable threats that may come from North Korea, even taking Pyongyang’s current actions into account.

“We believe it to be essential not to shelter behind the excuse that this is taking place because of the North Korean reckless ventures,” he added, vowing to “expose the absolutely invalid nature of such plans, which undermine global parity and strategic stability.”

China and Russia agreed on the importance of enforcing on nuclear non-proliferation and “non-recognition of Pyongyang’s nuclear ambitions,” Mr Lavrov stressed.

“We expect North Korea to make reasonable conclusions and listen to the demands of the United Nations security council” and return to the stalled six-party negotiations, he said.