A county governor wrote a blood letter to protest Seoul’s decision to deploy a Terminal High-Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) battery in his region, in front of a 5,000 strong protest in Seongju on Wednesday.

“No to the deployment of THAAD in Seongju,” governor Kim Hang-kon wrote with his own blood in front an estimated 5,000 local citizens, as seen in pictures taken at the protest and distributed by local media.

Deployment of THAAD has proven deeply controversial in South Korea, stimulating criticism from Seongju citizens who argue its operation will have negative health consequences for those in the vicinity, due to its electromagnetic frequency