&gt;Honestly, I don&#x27;t see what difference a missile defense would make to SK, when North Korea can set Seoul in fire with artillery.<p>While I agree the North Koreans can do a tremendous amount of damage to Seoul with artillery, these are really calculations on the strategic, nuclear level.  The North Korean conventional ballistic arsenal is too small to matter very much.<p>What they&#x27;re really worried about is South Korea developing the capability to stop the North Koreans from delivering a nuclear bomb.  The Chinese are probably thinking the US is more likely to nuke the North Koreans if we don&#x27;t believe they can retaliate effectively.<p>Still, it doesn&#x27;t make much sense to me.  If we were to make a first strike on North Korea we would get their nukes with a pretty high degree of confidence.  Not that we would anyway, but the strategic consideration there is China&#x27;s response,  not North Korea&#x27;s.