By Oh Young-jin
The new U.S. Pyeongtaek Garrison is vulnerable to North Korea's rocket and missile attacks possibly topped with chemical and biological warheads, a noted American defense analyst told The Korea Times Friday.
"The new North Korean 300mm rocket launchers would be able to reach Pyeongtaek," said Bruce Bennett, a senior defense researcher at the Rand Corp.
It was a contingency that the U.S. failed to anticipate in the early 2000s when the integrated U.S. base was planned, the Korea expert added. Pyeongtaek is located 100 kilometers from the southernmost area of the North Korean side on the inter-Korean border and is outside the range of the North's 7,000 artillery pieces located there.
But the latest 300mm rocket launchers can cover the distance and hit the U.S. base and what is also worrisome is they are reloadable, he said.
The North's theater ballistic missiles also pose a threat to the base where key elements of the U.S. forces here are being moved to. "The North has 100 launchers for these missiles," he said, citing a ROK military whitepaper. "We have significant uncertainties with regard to their number and payloads." The North is said to possess large quantities of chemical and biological weapons that are deliverable by their projectiles.
Bennett, however, moderated these concerns with doubts he had about the 300mm rockets' reliability and deployment levels.