South Korea's military signed a formal land swap deal with Lotte Group on Tuesday, paving the way for the installation of an advanced US missile defense system this year as scheduled, the defense ministry said. 

The Ministry of National Defense and Lotte Group have agreed to exchange properties to complete the deployment of the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) system "within this year," the Korean news agency Yonhap reported, quoting the ministry said in a statement. 

Lotte has agreed to hand over its golf course worth 89 billion won (US$79 million) in the southeastern rural county of Seongju in exchange for a state-owned military property east of Seoul. 

"We will make the system operational as quickly as possible to better safeguard the well-being of our nation and the lives of citizens against North Korea's growing nuclear and missile threats," a ministry official said. 

The missile defense system is widely expected to be installed between May and July. Pyongyang's continued provocations apparently provided a strong impetus for Seoul and Washington to agree in July last year to deploy the THAAD system in South Korea by the end of 2017.

Source: MENA