PYONGYANG, March 13. /TASS/. US deployment of the THAAD missile defense system to South Korea "turns it into the outpost of a nuclear war," the Minju Choson state-run North Korean government newspaper writes on Monday.

Despite protests of South Korea’s citizens, the first two launchers of the system have been already delivered to the military base near Pyeongtaek, some 70 km from Seoul, according to the paper.

Due to the deployment of this system, which will affect the economy and environment of South Korea, "the situation on the Korean Peninsula and around it will sharply escalate and the threat of a nuclear war will grow," the paper says.

After the system is put into operation, "the United States will get the opportunity to deliver preventive strikes at any time on the territories of Russia and China, which are absolutely against its deployment now," according to the Minju Choson newspaper.

"The South Korean regime, which acts as a lackey of the US, is a disgrace for the nation," the paper stresses.

On March 7, the US Pacific Command announced that the United States had started to deploy the THAAD missile system to South Korea. The system is expected to go operational in one or two months.

South Korea and the US agreed on the deployment of the US missile system in July 2016. Washington says the system is meant to counter North Korea’s nuclear threat.