‘ROK, US mull tripling Seoul’s missile range‘

By Lee Tae-hoon

Washington has agreed on the need to revise a bilateral pact that limits South Korea’s ballistic missile range to 300 kilometers, defense officials said Thursday.

This is equivalent to roughly half the distance between the demilitarized zone and North Korea’s border with China.

Under an agreement reached in 2001 with the United States, Seoul restricted its ballistic missile range to 300 kilometers with a maximum payload of 500 kilograms.

“South Korea and the United States share the view that new measures should be taken to counter growing threats from North Korea’s long-range missiles,” a senior official said asking for anonymity.

“The two sides will begin talks from next month on how long the extension should be.”

Another official said that Seoul and Washington have already reached a consensus that the range should be increased to more than 800 kilometers to bring all of North Korea within reach.

The Korean Peninsula stretches about 1,030 kilometers from north to south and between 175 and 300 kilometers from west to east.

“Seoul wants to extend the range to 1,000 kilometers to cover the whole Korean Peninsula, but will need to slightly shorten this due to possible protests from China and Russia,” another official said.

He forecast that Seoul and Washington will likely conclude to extend the range to 800 kilometers, which is about the distance between the northern tip of the peninsula to Daegu or Gunsan in North Jeolla Province.

However, Kim Min-seok, spokesman of the Ministry of National Defense, declined to comment on the progress of the negotiations.

“South Korea and the United States have been negotiating on the extension of the missile range to counter North Korean ballistic missile threats, but we cannot disclose details of the negotiations as they are classified military information,” he said.

“The two governments share the view on the need to come up with counter measures against North Korea’s long-range missiles.”

Missile experts here say the North has about 1,000 missiles of various types, including medium-range missiles capable of travelling more than 3,000 kilometers, which makes Japan and U.S. military bases in Guam vulnerable targets.

President Lee Myung-bak painted a rosy prospect on the revision of the bilateral missile pact during an interview with the media.

“Missiles with a 300-kilometre range can reach only the North’s frontline areas so there is a limit in our attack capability,” Lee was quoted as saying.

“The United States also sees our argument as fairly reasonable, so I believe that an agreement will be reached soon.”

The remarks came as tensions have risen on the Korean Peninsula after Pyongyang announced last week it will launch a long-range rocket carrying a satellite into orbit next month, which is widely seen as cover for a banned missile test.

U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said he would raise the Stalinist regime’s planned rocket launch at the 2012 Seoul Nuclear Security Summit to be held on March 26 and 27, expressing "deep concern" over the issue.

"I am going to discuss the issue with the South Korean President in Seoul and I will also engage with other leaders attending the nuclear summit," Ban told a press conference in Malaysia.