Gen. B. B. Bell Commander of U.S. Forces Korea

By Jung Sung-ki
Staff Reporter

The top U.S. military officer in South Korea warned Monday of North Korea's advanced missile technology, calling it a ``very real threat'' to South Korea, the region and the global community.

Gen. B. B. Bell, commander of the U.S. Forces Korea (USFK), said the North's test-launch of short-range missiles in recent months were successful enough to pose a grave threat to the armed forces and South Koreans.

He said the three short-range surface-to-surface missiles fired off the eastern coast last week were believed to be an upgraded version of the Frog-5 or Frog-7 with a range of 55 to 70 kilometers.

``What I find very disturbing is that the North continues to test advanced short-range missiles,'' Bell said at a breakfast meeting organized by the Kwanhun Club, a fraternity of senior journalists, at the Korea Press Center in central Seoul. ``These missiles are designed to be used on this peninsula, and these missiles, in general, appear to be performing as they are designed."

It was the third time in a month that the North test-fired a short-range missile, following launches May 25 and June 7 and came even amid steady progress in the six-party talks over its nuclear weapons program. South Korea, however, downplayed the tests as routine.

Bell did not provide details on the missiles' capability but informed defense sources said the missiles were believed to be the mobile KN-02, a modified variant of the Russian SS-21, with a range of 100 to 120 kilometers.

The communist regime test-fired a KN-02 missile off its eastern coast toward Japan in May 2005.

Once KN-02s are fired off near the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ), the missiles are believed to be capable of reaching Pyongtaek, 70 kilometers south of Seoul, where a consolidated U.S. military base will be built by 2012, the sources said.

``The North has the capability to bring enormous destruction on the greater Seoul metropolitan area, and the nearly 23 million Korean citizens who live here,'' said Bell, who concurrently serves as chief of the ROK-U.S. Combined Forces Command (CFC) and the United Nations Command (UNC).

``This is a very real threat which cannot be ignored,'' he said, referring to the North's deployment of over 250 long-range artillery systems near the Demilitarized Zone.

The U.S. army general welcomed the recent progress of the six-party talks on denuclearizaiton of the Korean Peninsula but expressed concern at the same time about North Korea's potential capability to couple its missile technology and the nuclear ability.

``There are hopeful signs that North Korea is willing to return to the action plan they agreed on during the six-party talks this past February. I sincerely hope they do so,'' he said.

Bell said after the transition of wartime operational control in 2012, the U.S. troop level on the Korean Peninsula will not fall below 25,000.

``Our alliance will continue to remain strong, meet the security needs of both partners, and maintain overwhelming military capability to effectively deter and if necessary rapidly and decisively defeat any attack on the Republic of Korea,'' he said.

gallantjung@koreatimes.co.kr