South Korea, US need new strategy to deter North Korea
North Korea has launched its second hypersonic missile successfully into the East Sea, according to its official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA), Thursday. The KCNA claimed the consecutive successes in the test firing of the supersonic missiles are strategically significant as they will speed up the North's much-touted task of modernizing its strategic armed forces.
The KCNA reported that the Central Committee of the governing Workers' Party expressed "great satisfaction" with the results of the missile test conducted on Wednesday. South Korea's Ministry of National Defense noted the missile launch was detected through various military intelligence assets of South Korea and the United States. Yet it stopped short of confirming whether the missile launch was successful or not.
This shows it is premature to confirm the North's launch of what it claims to be a supersonic missile as a success. Yet it is certain that the North has made considerable progress in improving its technological prowess given that the distance traveled by the missile launched Wednesday increased more than three times compared to the Hwasong-8, another supersonic missile the North launched last September, at a higher speed.
Supersonic missiles are regarded as game changers with their ability to combine multi-step glide jump flight and strong lateral maneuvering. The KCNA asserted the recent missile test demonstrated such capabilities. Pyongyang is highly likely to test-fire more missiles toward completing the development of such state-of-the-art weapons.
North Korea has been pushing for the development of the supersonic missiles as one of its "top five priorities." North Korean leader Kim Jong-un vowed to speed up efforts to develop new tech-savvy weapons such as large-size ballistic missiles, solid-fuel intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBM) and nuclear submarines during the eighth congress of the North's ruling party last year.
The North has managed to maintain the upper hand over South Korea in terms of "strategic asymmetrical military strength" by developing nuclear weapons. Now the North is also hastening efforts to possess "tactical asymmetrical" superiority over the South by developing diverse weapons aimed to paralyze Seoul's defense posture.
The Moon Jae-in administration has continued its efforts to build up the nation's military strength. But it has yet to cope with the North's strenuous bids to develop high-tech weapons. Defense chiefs of the South and the U.S. endorsed the strategic planning guidance (SPG) to update Operational Plan (OPLAN) 5015 during the bilateral Security Council Meeting (SCM) late last year.
Usually it takes at least several years for South Korea and the U.S. to map out new operational plans. However, the two allies have no time to waste to effectively tackle the ever-serious moves by North Korea to develop high-tech missiles and other weapons. They need to speed up mutual efforts to complete new operational plans to more efficiently deal with North Korea's weapons development.
North Korea has launched its second hypersonic missile successfully into the East Sea, according to its official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA), Thursday. The KCNA claimed the consecutive successes in the test firing of the supersonic missiles are strategically significant as they will speed up the North's much-touted task of modernizing its strategic armed forces.
The KCNA reported that the Central Committee of the governing Workers' Party expressed "great satisfaction" with the results of the missile test conducted on Wednesday. South Korea's Ministry of National Defense noted the missile launch was detected through various military intelligence assets of South Korea and the United States. Yet it stopped short of confirming whether the missile launch was successful or not.
This shows it is premature to confirm the North's launch of what it claims to be a supersonic missile as a success. Yet it is certain that the North has made considerable progress in improving its technological prowess given that the distance traveled by the missile launched Wednesday increased more than three times compared to the Hwasong-8, another supersonic missile the North launched last September, at a higher speed.
Supersonic missiles are regarded as game changers with their ability to combine multi-step glide jump flight and strong lateral maneuvering. The KCNA asserted the recent missile test demonstrated such capabilities. Pyongyang is highly likely to test-fire more missiles toward completing the development of such state-of-the-art weapons.
North Korea has been pushing for the development of the supersonic missiles as one of its "top five priorities." North Korean leader Kim Jong-un vowed to speed up efforts to develop new tech-savvy weapons such as large-size ballistic missiles, solid-fuel intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBM) and nuclear submarines during the eighth congress of the North's ruling party last year.
The North has managed to maintain the upper hand over South Korea in terms of "strategic asymmetrical military strength" by developing nuclear weapons. Now the North is also hastening efforts to possess "tactical asymmetrical" superiority over the South by developing diverse weapons aimed to paralyze Seoul's defense posture.
The Moon Jae-in administration has continued its efforts to build up the nation's military strength. But it has yet to cope with the North's strenuous bids to develop high-tech weapons. Defense chiefs of the South and the U.S. endorsed the strategic planning guidance (SPG) to update Operational Plan (OPLAN) 5015 during the bilateral Security Council Meeting (SCM) late last year.
Usually it takes at least several years for South Korea and the U.S. to map out new operational plans. However, the two allies have no time to waste to effectively tackle the ever-serious moves by North Korea to develop high-tech missiles and other weapons. They need to speed up mutual efforts to complete new operational plans to more efficiently deal with North Korea's weapons development.
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