By Lee Tae-hoon
Experts raised questions Wednesday about South Korea’s move to counter North Korean ballistic missiles capable of carrying chemical and nuclear warheads by pushing the envisioned development of advanced interceptors.
Seoul successfully developed an indigenous mid-range surface-to-air missile, the Chun Koong, with a maximum range of 40 kilometers in December last year and is planning to inject 135.4 billion won ($120.2 million) to upgrade it to make a longer range surface-to-air missile (L-SAM).
“The country should put more emphasis on proactive deterrence in order to discourage North Korea from provoking the South,” said Kim Tae-woo, a nuclear specialist currently serving as the president of the Korean Institute for National Unification.
“Beefing up defensive measures is necessary but cannot be an effective method of stopping North Korean attacks.”
He said that the country’s limited defense budget should be dedicated to bolstering capabilities to retaliate against the Stalinist regime, which is believed to possess more than 1,000 missiles at over 20 bases throughout the country, if it undertakes a military attack.
The former researcher at the Korean Institute for Defense Analyses argued that the best defense for the South is the ability to undertake an effective offense and that no matter how much money is poured into the missile defense system, the country will remain vulnerable.
“No matter how great the nation’s defense posture is, it cannot stop the North’s motive to undertake an attack against the South, nor completely prevent damage,” he said.
Kim suggested the Ministry of National Defense to increase its outnumbered stockpile of missiles and other conventional arms early last year to a level equivalent or superior to that of the North while serving as a head of a presidential panel on defense advancement.
A senior defense official admitted that the South will remain susceptible to North Korean missile threats, even it successfully develops L-SAMs without a hitch by 2020.
“There is no solution to defending Seoul from North Korean missile attacks,” the official said.
“The odds of intercepting all of the multiple missiles flying toward the South are very slim, no matter how great our missile defense system would be.”
He said the South’s missile defense system is dedicated to defend some of the most valuable military assets, rather than civilians.
Dan Lin, an official of Lockheed Martin specialized in advanced interceptors, concurred, saying the South will suffer a certain degree of damage no matter how early advanced missile interceptors block enemy targets.
“The current technology only allows interceptors to shoot down enemy missiles after the latter reaches an apogee (peak altitude),” he said.
He added that it would be inevitable for the military to shoot down enemy missiles carrying nuclear or chemical warheads when they fly above South Korean territory as many North Korean launch pads are situated near the border.
Lin said his company is consulting with the Defense Acquisition Program Administration over a possible transfer of technology or sales of its most advanced interceptors that employ hit-to-kill technology.