Since North Korea's bombing of Yeonpyeong Island a year ago, the Ministry of National Defense has spent 230.9 billion won to beef up detection equipment and deploy accurate precision weapons on Yeonpyeong and other islands near the western sea border, ministry sources said Monday.
During the shelling, the South Korean military failed to detect the exact location of a coastal artillery unit in Mu-do, North Korea, which is 12km from Yeonpyeong, as detection radars did not work.
Wednesday marks the first anniversary of the North’s shelling of Yeonpyeong, the first time South Korean territory has been under attack since the 1950-53 Korean War. Two civilians and two Marines were killed as the North fired about 170 rounds of artillery on the island guarded by more than 1,000 Marines.
The military has since then replaced old radars with up-to-date Arthur radars and installed Halo sound-detection devices with a range of 30km, the sources said. A Halo is priced at 5 billion won.
The military plans to deploy more surveillance equipment, including airships and unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV).
More accurate precision weapons were deployed. A year ago, there were only six K-9 self-propelled guns on Yeonpyeong. But the number has increased sharply, the sources said.
Also deployed are Cobra attack helicopters, Vulcan automatic cannons, new 81mm mortars and M48A3K armored vehicles to counter possible infiltration by North Korea’s hovercraft, they said.
The military originally planned to deploy the ATACMS missile with a range of 300km, but shelved the plan as critics said it was “too heavy.” Instead, the military will introduce Spike, a precision guided munitions system with a range of 25km.
Islands near the western sea border with North Korea will be “fortified” to address possible attacks by North Korea. The military will complete fortification of key military facilities and all other major facilities in 2012 and 2015, respectively, according to the sources.