By Jung Sung-ki
Staff Reporter
South Korea's armed forces displayed their state-of-the-art weapons systems Wednesday in a massive military parade in Seoul to mark the 60th Armed Forces Day.
About 60,000 people, including President Lee Myung-bak, top military commanders and domestic and foreign Korean War veterans gathered at the Olympic Stadium in Jamsil, southern Seoul, to attend a ceremony featuring honor guard performances, aerobatics, a taekwondo demonstration and music concerts.
``Amid the fast-changing security environment surrounding the Korean Peninsula, the military has a new, historical task of realizing the reunification of the two Koreas and promoting national development,'' President Lee said in his speech at the ceremony. ``An advanced military should be strong and able to cope with terrorism, human rights violations, natural disasters and other common threats to mankind.''
After the ceremony, the Army, Navy and Air Force showed off 88 up-to-date weapons in a parade in the streets of Gangnam, southern Seoul, showing off their remarkable development into one of the world's largest and most advanced self-reliant militaries.
The scale of the military parade was the biggest in almost a decade enough to demonstrate the nation's strong defense readiness against North Korea, which has one of the largest armies in the world with 1.1 million troops, military officials said.
Weapons systems made public in the parade involving some 2,500 troops included two sets of Patriot missile systems that have been delivered to the Air Force; the ground-to-ground Hyunmoo missile with a range of 180 kilometers; long-range precision-guided SLAM-ER missiles with a range of 270 kilometers; the indigenous Cheonma surface-to-air missile with a range of 10 kilometers; the domestically-built K-30 Biho self-propelled 30mm anti-aircraft gun; and the Shingung shoulder-launched anti-aircraft missile.
Others included the sophisticated XK2 Black Panther amphibious tank and the K21 next-generation Infantry Fighting Vehicle, which have been developed using the country's own technology, and domestic artillery systems such as the 155mm K-55 self-propelled howitzer and the Multiple-Launched Rocket System.
Currently, South Korea maintains 654,000 armed forces. The troop strength is to be downscaled to 500,000 under the Defense Reform 2020 initiative announced in 2005.