South Korea Extends Missile Range to Counter Northern Nukes

October 12, 2012 from LinkAsia via MBC

The US signed off on amending a 2001 agreement this past week, increasing South Korea's ballistic missile range from 300 to 800 kilometers. South Korean broadcaster MBC reports on what effect it will have on preventing a North Korean attack.

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South Korea

South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea, is a sovereign state located in the southern part of the Korean Peninsula. The name "Korea" is derived from Goryeo, a dynasty which ruled in the Middle Ages. Its neighbors are China to the west, Japan to the east, and North Korea ... Explore this topic

Missile defense

Missile defense is a system, weapon, or technology involved in the detection, tracking, interception, and destruction of attacking missiles. Originally conceived as a defence against nuclear-armed Intercontinental ballistic missiles, its application has broadened to include sh... Explore this topic

North Korea

The Democratic People's Republic of Korea, commonly called North Korea, is a country in East Asia, in the northern half of the Korean Peninsula. Its capital is Pyongyang, the country's largest city by both land area and population. The Amnok River and the Tumen River form the ... Explore this topic

Ballistic missile

A ballistic missile is a missile that follows a ballistic flightpath with the objective of delivering one or more warheads to a predetermined target. Shorter range ballistic missiles stay within the Earth's atmosphere, while longer range ones are designed to spend some of thei... Explore this topic

Nuclear weapon

A nuclear weapon is an explosive device that derives its destructive force from nuclear reactions, either fission or a combination of fission and fusion. Both reactions release vast quantities of energy from relatively small amounts of matter. The first fission bomb test relea... Explore this topic

Kim Jong-un

Kim Jong-un —also romanised as Kim Jong-eun, Kim Jong Un or Kim Jung-eun—is the supreme leader of North Korea, the son of Kim Jong-il and the grandson of Kim Il-sung. He has held the titles of the First Secretary of the Workers' Party of Korea, the Chairman of the Central Mili... Explore this topic

Lee Myung-bak

Lee Myung-bak was the tenth President of South Korea. Prior to his presidency, he was the CEO of Hyundai Engineering and Construction and the mayor of Seoul. He is married to Kim Yoon-ok and has three daughters and one son. His older brother is Lee Sang-deuk, a South Korean po... Explore this topic

Seoul

Seoul, officially the Seoul Special City, is the capital and largest metropolis of South Korea. A megacity with a population of more than 10 million, it is the largest city proper in the OECD developed world. The Seoul Capital Area, which includes the surrounding Incheon metro... Explore this topic

Pyongyang

Pyongyang is the capital of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, commonly known as North Korea, and the largest city in the country. Pyongyang is located on the Taedong River and, according to preliminary results from the 2008 population census, has a population of 3,255... Explore this topic

Yul Kwon

Yul Kwon is an American television host and former government official, lawyer, and management consultant based in Virginia. He first gained national recognition as the winner of the reality TV show Survivor: Cook Islands in 2006. He is currently hosting the TV series America ... Explore this topic

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Transcript

Yul Kwon:
Kim Jong-un may be portraying his regime as kinder and gentler, but he's not changing many minds in Washington and Seoul. And this week the U.S. and South Korea agreed to station a new generation of missiles that can hit anywhere in North Korea and even beyond. Here's MBC with more.

Reporter:
The Blue House announced that the missile guidelines with the US have been revised after two years of negotiating.

Chun Yung-woo:
It will allow for various methods to effectively disable North Korean nuclear missiles early, and so protect national security.

Reporter:
The essential point of the new guidelines extends the radius of ballistic missiles from only 186 miles to 500 miles. In range of North Korea's major missile sites from the center of South Korea.

The weight of the missile warhead is still limited to 1,100 pounds, but if the range is shortened, increasing the size of the warheads is possible so their destructive power will also increase.

Additionally, the weight of unmanned aerial vehicles, important in recent wars, can go from 1,100 pounds to 5,500 pounds. So, developing the latest drones with high-standard reconnaissance equipment and weapons is possible from now on.

The Blue House emphasized that the biggest objective of the revision is to prevent North Korea's military provocations, including nuclear weapons.

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