SEOUL, SOUTH KOREA (AP) – South Korea’s military said yesterday it’s capable of detecting and intercepting the variety of missiles North Korea launched in a barrage of recent simulated nuclear attacks on its rivals, though it maintains the North’s advancing nuclear programme poses a grave security threat.
North Korea said on Monday its two weeks of firing drills involved nuclear-capable ballistic missiles, warplanes and other assets to practice possible strikes on South Korean and United States (US) targets. North Korea said the drills were meant to issue a warning to Seoul and Washington, which staged provocative joint naval drills involving a US aircraft carrier.
The North Korean launches, part of its record-breaking run of weapons tests this year, were seen as an attempt by leader Kim Jong-un to acquire a more intimidating arsenal to pressure its rivals to accept the North as a legitimate nuclear state and lift economic sanctions on the North.
South Korean Defence Ministry Acting Spokesperson Moon Hong-sik described North Korean nuclear threats as “very grave and serious”. But he told reporters that the South Korean missile defence system is capable of detecting and intercepting the weapons systems that North Korea said it mobilised in its drills.
Moon said South Korea is still pushing to introduce spy satellites, various surveillance drones and additional sea-based reconnaissance assets to better monitor North Korea.
Despite Moon’s comments, some observers have said a portion of the North’s newly developed weapons – such as a highly manoeuvrable KN-23 missile modelled on Russia’s Iskander missile and a developmental hypersonic missile – may overcome South Korean and US missile defences.
They also said if North Korea launches multiple missiles from different sites simultaneously, it would be more difficult for the allies to spot liftoffs in advance and shoot them down.
South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol reiterated his vow to strengthen South Korea’s defence in conjunction with its alliance with the US and their trilateral security cooperation with Japan. He said the recent demonstrations showed that the North’s nuclear threat is “getting serious every day”.
“North Korea has been consistently developing and advancing nuclear weapons capabilities and is now threatening not only (South Korea) but the entire world, but I think there is nothing North Korea could gain through nukes,” Yoon told reporters at his office in Seoul.
