By Jung Sung-ki
Staff Reporter
Defense Minister Lee Sang-hee said Monday that he has mandated field commanding officers in the Army, Navy and Air force to immediately respond to any North Korean provocations without permission from their leaders. He said the government needs to consider joining the U.S.-led global missile defense system, an issue which liberal forces in the country have vehemently opposed to.
He made the remarks amid the heightening tensions on the Korean Peninsula in recent weeks following Pyongyang's repeated warnings that it would make void all inter-Korean accords calling for non-aggression. A U.S. satellite was recently said to have spotted alleged preparations by the North to test-launch a long-range missile.
North Korea watchers say the communist North may take some kind of provocative actions between Monday, the 67th birthday of its leader Kim Jong-il, and the planned visit to South Korea by U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton from Feb. 19 to 20.
According to reports, the North has deployed about 100 artillery pieces in caves along the western coastline.
In an interpellation session, Minister Lee said North Korea was expected to conduct coastal artillery fires or launch ship-to-ship missiles at South Korean naval ships in a bid to ratchet up tension.
In that case, South Korea's military will fight in order to achieve a win in a short period of time with the help of the overwhelming capabilities of its army, navy and air force, he said.
``It took just 14 minutes and 18 minutes, respectively, for South and North Korean vessels to engage each other during the first and second West Sea conflicts in 1999 and 2002,'' said Lee. ``That's why I've given bigger responsibilities to field commanders to deal with any North Korean provocative act.''
He said his military is closely monitoring moves in North Korea with the help of U.S. intelligence and surveillance assets, but there has been no imminent signs of all-out war by the North.
The minister said the North's mobile KN-02 missile, a modified variant of the Russian SS-21, could hit key facilities in South Korea, including those for the U.S. Forces Korea.
The communist North test-fired KN-02 missiles, with a range of 100 to 120 kilometers, in 2005 and 2007, respectively. Once KN-02s are fired near the Demilitarized Zone, the missiles are believed to be capable of reaching Pyeongtaek, 70 kilometers south of Seoul, where a consolidated U.S. military base will be built in the coming years.
To counter the North's naval attacks near the Northern Limit Line (NLL) in the West Sea, a flashpoint for inter-Korean conflicts, South Korea has forward-deployed its 4,500-ton KDX-II destroyers to naval bases near the western waters. The army, for its part, deployed its K-9 self-propelled artilleries and anti-artillery radars to Yeonpyeong Island near the NLL to counter the North's coastal artillery systems.
North Korea has upgraded the coastal artillery systems in past years by replacing some of the 75- and 100-millimeter guns with 122- and 130-millimeter guns, allowing the weapons' range to increase from 10 to more than 20 kilometers, reports said.
Last March, the North Korean military conducted firing practice of the coastal artillery systems on a large scale along the West Sea.
To bolster its readiness against the North's possible provocations by aircraft near the NLL, meanwhile, the South Korean military is also considering forward-deploying advanced artilleries and ground-to-air guided missile systems, including the Cheonma, a military source said.
The indigenous Cheonma has a detection range of 20 kilometers and is capable of engaging targets 10 kilometers away.
Last year, a North Korean bomber fired a modified Styx air-to-ground missile into the western waters.