Seo Wook Urgently Convenes Military Command Over Ukraine and North Korean Missiles... Checks Readiness Status

[Asia Economy Yang Nak-gyu, Military Specialist Reporter] On the 28th, Defense Minister Seo Wook held a major commanders' meeting at the Ministry of National Defense building in Yongsan-gu, Seoul, to assess the situation related to the recent Ukraine crisis and North Korea's continuous missile launches and to check military readiness, the Ministry of National Defense announced.

Minister of National Defense Seo Wook is speaking at the joint press conference of the 53rd Korea-US Security Consultative Meeting (SCM) held on the afternoon of the 2nd at the briefing room of the Ministry of National Defense building in Yongsan-gu, Seoul. Photo by Joint Press Corps

The meeting was attended by key officials from the Ministry of National Defense, the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and each military branch and agency, including Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Won In-chul, Army Chief of Staff Nam Young-shin, Navy Chief of Staff Kim Jung-soo, Air Force Chief of Staff Park In-ho, Marine Corps Commanding General Kim Tae-sung, Defense Acquisition Program Administration Chief Kang Eun-ho, and Director of the Agency for Defense Development Park Jong-seung.

The attendees agreed to maintain an immediate response posture against any additional launches by North Korea under close ROK-US cooperation, following North Korea's ballistic missile launch the previous day.

In his opening remarks, Minister Seo stated, “North Korea is creating military tension by launching missiles eight times this year,” and instructed, “Please maintain focused surveillance on signs of North Korea’s missile launches and a firm response posture.”

Regarding the Ukraine crisis, Minister Seo emphasized, “Based on the lessons the situation implies for national security, maintaining strong defense capabilities is the only way to preserve peace.”

The major commanders' meeting was not originally planned but was suddenly convened last week.

As the Ukraine crisis and North Korea’s resumption of military demonstrations have highlighted the security situation on the Korean Peninsula as a critical issue, it appears the military judged it necessary to check readiness and to quell some excessive public security anxieties.

In fact, during the meeting, a 'special video' featuring deterrence and response forces prepared against North Korean nuclear and missile threats was screened.

The Ministry of National Defense explained that the video included scenes from the successful test launches of the long-range surface-to-air missile (L-SAM) and the long-range artillery missile defense system (LAMD) conducted on the 23rd.

The L-SAM is a key interceptor missile under development to realize a Korean-style missile defense system, aiming to intercept ballistic missiles flying at altitudes of 50 to 60 km.

The military expects that once L-SAM is deployed, it will enable a multi-layered complex defense system together with THAAD (Terminal High Altitude Area Defense) defending the upper layer in the missile terminal phase, the lower-layer Patriot (PAC-3) missiles, and the medium-range surface-to-air missile Cheolmae-II.

The official confirmation of the operational deployment of supersonic cruise missiles and surface-to-air missiles (M-SAM II) was also made for the first time.

The Ministry of National Defense explained, “Along with the existing Patriot performance upgrades and the US Forces Korea THAAD system, the recent successful L-SAM test launch and M-SAM II deployment have laid the foundation for building a terminal phase missile defense system, which is a significant advancement.”

It added, “To effectively operate strike systems, various surveillance and reconnaissance means such as the Global Hawk (HUAV, high-altitude unmanned reconnaissance aircraft) and E-737 airborne control aircraft have been operationalized to enable real-time monitoring of moving and fixed targets, and advanced US ISR (Intelligence, Surveillance, and Reconnaissance) assets such as reconnaissance satellites, U-2, and RC-12 will support operations.”

Meanwhile, the Ministry of National Defense reported that Minister Seo also repeatedly emphasized commanders’ leading by example to strictly maintain the military’s political neutrality ahead of the presidential election scheduled for the 9th of next month during the meeting.

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