Response to Underestimation of North Korean Missiles Was Delayed

[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Yang Nak-gyu, Military Specialist Reporter] To intercept North Korea's hypersonic missiles, surveillance military satellites and interceptor missile systems are necessary. Although the military authorities have started developing the technology in preparation for such a situation, they have wasted time by underestimating North Korea's capabilities, and currently, there is no system to defend against hypersonic missiles. However, immediate defense is somewhat possible with the military satellites and interceptor missile systems that the United States has in place. Yet, after the wartime operational control transfer, even this will become meaningless. It is urgent for our military to secure its own interception system.

Originally, our military planned to complete the so-called ‘425 Project,’ which involves introducing five reconnaissance satellites, by this year. There was also a plan to secure independent reconnaissance capabilities to use as leverage in negotiations for the transfer of wartime operational control. However, disagreements between ministries delayed the project by two years, and the import of overseas components was further delayed due to COVID-19, so it is expected that the satellites will only be deployed in 2025, three years later than planned.

When a satellite detects an enemy missile launch, intercepting it is the role of interceptor missiles. Our military planned to deploy the interceptor system ‘Cheongung-II’ in 2019, but the project was delayed as former Defense Minister Song Young-moo postponed the decision. The quantity is also an issue. Our military plans to deploy seven batteries (224 missiles), which is far insufficient to stop North Korean missiles.

The Joint Chiefs of Staff decided in 2013 to equip three Korean Aegis destroyers (KDX-III Batch II) with SM-3 interceptor missiles. However, the Defense Acquisition Program Administration opposed this and suggested replacing them with long-range surface-to-air missiles (L-SAM), which only delayed the project timeline.

Shin Jong-woo, Secretary General of the Korea Defense and Security Forum, said, "Because we have not objectively recognized the speed of North Korea's missile development, our response speed inevitably falls behind," and added, "We must plan and implement weapon acquisitions based on security logic, not politics."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.