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Protesters show placards during a demonstration against government's new missile policy in front of presidential office Cheong Wa Dae in Seoul, South Korea, Oct. 8, 2012. South Korea plans to deploy new ballistic missiles with a range of 550 kilometers and 800 kilometers in five years, local media reported Monday, a day after the United States gave a nod for an extension of the range limit.(Xinhua/Park Jin hee)
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SEOUL, Oct. 8 (Xinhua) -- South Korea plans to deploy new ballistic missiles with a range of 550 kilometers and 800 kilometers in five years, local media reported Monday, a day after the United States gave a nod for an extension of the range limit.
The military has earmarked 2.4 trillion won (2.15 billion U.S. dollars) for the planned deployment and is awaiting parliamentary approval for spending 500 billion won starting next year, Yonhap News Agency quoted an unnamed government source as saying.
The report, which the defense ministry here did not confirm, came on the heels of an agreement between South Korea and the U.S. that allows the former to develop ballistic missiles with a range of up to 800 kilometers, more than double the previous limit. The payload limit was kept unchanged at 500 kilograms.
The extended range can now cover all of the Democratic People' s Republic of Korea (DPRK), South Korea's wartime enemy whose arsenal includes intermediate-range ballistic missiles with a range of 3,000 kilometers capable of striking the entire Korean Peninsula as well as U.S. military installations in Japan and Guam.
South Korea had long called for a revision of the missile pact it signed with Washington in 1979, which stopped the country from developing ballistic missiles of longer ranges despite growing missile threats posed by its northern neighbor.
The extension, however, runs counter to a global arms control agreement known as the Missile Technology Control Regime (MTCR), an informal and voluntary association of 34 countries with a goal of stopping the spread of unmanned delivery systems capable of delivering weapons of mass destruction.
As a member of the agreement, South Korea had opted to build slower, surface-skimming cruise missiles with a range of up to 1, 500 kilometers, which are not subject to the MTCR.
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【Video】S.Korea to extend ballistic missiles range to 800km
BEIJING, Oct. 8 (Xinhuanet) -- South Korea has negotiated a revised pact with the US, allowing it to extend the range of its ballistic missiles. The agreement, which more than doubles the current maximum, is designed to offer a better deterrent to perceived threats from the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea.
Chun Yung-Woo, S. Korean Nat’l Security Advisor, said, "We extended the maximum range of our ballistic missiles from the current 300 kilometers to 800 kilometers. And the payload limit is 500 kilograms for the extended range missiles. But we have adapted a trade-off system -- if we reduce the range of the missiles, we can increase the payload limit in inverse ratio. If the DPRK makes an armed attack or a provocation towards us, we will render the war potentials of its nuclear missile incapable at an early stage." Full story
S. Korea allowed to build ballistic missiles capable of striking all of DPRK
SEOUL, Oct. 7 (Xinhua) -- South Korea is now allowed to develop ballistic missiles with a range of up to 800 kilometers, more than double the current limit, under a revised pact with the United States to better respond to percieved missile threats from the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK), the presidential office here said Sunday.
The extended range can now cover all of the DPRK, South Korea's wartime enemy whose arsenal includes intermediate-range ballistic missiles with a range of 3,000 kilometers capable of striking the entire Korean peninsula as well as U.S. military installations in Japan and Guam. Full story
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