Lawmakers of three South Korean opposition parties held their first gathering to oppose the deployment of Terminal High Altitude Area Defense on its soil, Yonhap news agency reported on Thursday. Members of three political parties, including the main opposition Minju Party, the People's Party and the minor Justice Party, held the first closed-door meeting to discuss how to launch a tri-party anti-THAAD gathering.

Participating in the meeting were four Minju Party lawmakers and three People's Party members. One Justice Party member was originally set to join the meeting, but he was absent as he visited Seongju county, where one THAAD battery is set to be sited by the end of next year under the Seoul-Washington agreement.

The People's Party and the Justice Party have demanded the retraction or re-negotiation at the National Assembly of the THAAD deployment decision, which will strain relations of South Korea with its Asian neighbors and escalate tensions in the region.