90% of vital facilities vulnerable to NK attacks

By Lee Tae-hoon

More than 90 percent of South Korea’s major facilities are defenseless against possible infiltration attacks by North Korea’s Special Forces, according to a report obtained Tuesday.

The report states that South Korean Special Forces disguised as North Korean soldiers have managed to break into the vast majority of key facilities here in a series of military exercises.

“What needs to be seriously addressed now is the fact that Special Forces troops succeeded in infiltrating more than 90 percent of the important facilities in past Army reserve drills,” Lee Won-seoung, a visiting professor at the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST), reported.

The former brigadier general is expected to present the report at a forum to be held today by the Army.

“After witnessing the drills, North Korean defectors concluded that the North’s Special Forces could also infiltrate more than 90 percent of the vital facilities in the South,” Lee said.

He argues that the military here should promptly introduce more high-tech equipment, including unmanned aerial vehicles and surveillance robots, to better thwart any infiltration.

Lee estimates that the number of North Korean Special Forces soldiers has surpassed 200,000, roughly 10 times that of South Korea, citing a recent document that the Ministry of National Defense submitted to the National Assembly.

He pointed out that the North’s elite troops are capable of infiltrating the South using radar-evading AN-2 biplanes.

According to a 2010 Pentagon report, the fabric-covered, Soviet-era aircraft has “truly lethal potential” because it gives off virtually no signature on radar, making it difficult to identify.

The North is known to possess some 300 AN-2s, which can carry 10 to 15 heavily armed soldiers across the inter-Korean border.

In response to the increased threat, Seoul is planning to deploy its first airborne early warning and control (AEW&C) aircraft, “Peace Eye,” this year.

It is capable of 360-degree detection and tracking airborne and maritime targets within a 370-kilometer radius.

If the Peace Eye flies near the inter-Korean border, nearly the entire peninsula comes under its Multi-Role Electronically Scanned Array (MESA) radar which can simultaneously track up to 3,000 targets, including the propeller-driven AN-2s.

It can carry out intelligence gathering and surveillance missions for more than 9 hours without air-to-air refueling.