A new ballistic missile is being fired from a mobile launcher in the Anheung test site.[Yonhap News Photo]
In a show of missile capabilities, South Korean President Moon Jae-in inspected the successful test launch of a home-made ballistic missile with a range of 800 kilometers (496 miles) that can reach anywhere in North Korea and beyond it.
If fired from a place near Seoul, the new missile, Hyunmoo-2C, could fly beyond the border between North Korea and China, though it would be used as the key part of South Korea's missile defense "kill chain" to counter the North's missile program.
Friday's test in Anheung, some 200 kilometers southwest of Seoul, marked the fourth of its kind and South Korea plans to deploy the new missile after two more tests, according to Yonhap News Agency. Military authorities said the new missile, fired from a mobile launcher, successfully hit the designated target in the sea.
For decades, the two Koreas have been locked in a race to develop and produce various missiles, with North Korea taking the upper hand in extending the range of ballistic missiles. South Korea has focused on guided systems with its inventory including a cruise missile with a 1,000 km range.
Moon described the new missile as "a tool for dialogue and peace", saying he supports dialogue, based on strong military power, according to his office.
[Yonhap News Photo]
"I support dialogue, but dialogue is possible when we have strong defense capabilities, and our engagement policy is also possible when we have security capabilities that can overwhelm North Korea," he said in the test site run by the Agency for Defense Development (AAD), a military research body.
"I made a visit today to reassure our people that our troops have sufficient missile capability, and the people will be proud to confirm that our missile capabilities are not behind the North's," Moon was quoted as saying.
South Korea's development of new ballistic and cruise missiles with precision-strike has alarmed North Korea's leadership. For possible deployment in 2020, South Korea is developing supersonic anti-ship missiles in line with an arms race among China and other countries in Northeast Asia to strengthen their ship-killing firepower, according to a Yonhap report in April.
Lim Chang-won = cwlim34@ajunews.com
reporter
Park Sae-jin
swatchsjp@ajunews.com
