Ministry of National Defense Republic of Korea

“Military has established a commander-centered reaction posture, and is firmly resolved to restrain North Korean provocations”

 

Once Kill Chain and KAMD projects are completed as planned, our capacity to react to the North Korean nuclear threat will be significantly improved

 

North Korea’s assertion that it has technologies for nuclear warhead miniaturization and  atmospheric re-entry lacks credibility

 

Republic of Korea is confident that it will quickly neutralize the North Korean 300 mm multiple rocket launchers that are assumed to be completely developed.

 

 

 

Minister of National Defense Han Min-koo has redeclared Republic of Korea is resolved to respond firmly and powerfully to any additional North Korean provocations.

 

Minister Han said “The possibility of additional provocations still exists, since North Korea has declared the provocation several times and there have been instructions by Kim Jong-un”, answering to a question about the potential for any further provocations and unusual activities by North Korea during a joint interview with the MND press corps which was held on April 6th. However, he added that no particular signs of provocation have been identified thus far.

 

He said, “All the units of our military have adopted a posture of spiritual and physical readiness commanding officers as the center, and are determined to restrain any North Korean provocation. If North Korea keeps provoking us, we will spare no effort to punish them and destroy their will for further provocations.” Regarding North Korea's nuclear threats, he clearly stated that he will try to expand the Korean army’s independent response capability while sufficiently restraining threats by adopting a customized deterrence strategy of alliance, concept of counter missile operation, etc., with the logic of a nuclear weapon for a nuclear weapon.

 

He also said, “We are engaging in Kill Chain and KAMD to cope with the North Korean nuclear missile threat. With the government and National Assembly allocating a budget to these projects so that they can be completed by the early and mid 2020s as they were planned. Then we will achieve significant improvements in our reaction capability.”

 

North Korea recently unveiled an object that is assumed to be a detonator of a nuclear warhead, and claimed that they had successfully miniaturized a nuclear warhead and obtained technology that would enable the warhead of a ballistic missile to safely re-enter the atmosphere. However, Minister Han made it clear that the revealing a nuclear device itself does not mean the achievement of miniaturization, although North Korea perhaps has reached a certain level of technology, considering the time that other countries normally spend to miniaturize a nuclear warhead. He explained, “Also, the environment simulation test for warhead re-entry is an elementary and basic level test that cannot be compared with the temperature, heat, vibration, pressure, etc. that occur during the re-entry to the atmosphere. So we still have the view that North Korea does not have re-entry capability.”

 

In terms of the ability of North Korea's new 300 mm MRL(Multiple Rocket Luncher) model with a range of up to 200 km and combat arrangement of the country, Minister Han evaluated that the development process was almost complete based on a 3-year observation of the development process and several recent tests and evaluations.

 

He also said, “It seems that North Korea has developed a 300 mm MRLs because its production cost is relatively cheaper than a ballistic missile and high volume firing is possible. Also, it can replace Scud-series missiles, which ware developed in the past. We expect this MRLs to be deployed as early as the end of the year.”

 

In this regard, Minister Han showed confidence that Republic of Korea would be able to quickly neutralize the 300mm MRLs and destroy them in the event of an emergency with its well-established concept and system of counterfire against North Korea's long range artillery.

 

He said, “Our forces not only can monitor and detect the movements of the enemy in real time using the theater assets of our forces, UAV(Unmanned Aerial Vehicle)s, and counter-battery radars, etc,, but also are ready to destroy and neutralize MRLs with air power, ground-to-ground missiles, and ground firepower, etc. We have sufficient reaction capability as strategic ground-to-ground guided weapons will be deployed soon.”

 

 

“North Korea will fall to ruins if it performs any further nuclear experiments”

 

 

Our army has closely observed North Korea's nuclear experiment tunnel.

 

Isolated due to powerful sanctions from the international community

 

North Korea is considered to be at stage 3 of 5 in solid fuel propulsion engine development.

 

 

North Korean leader, Kim Jong-un, ordered a ballistic missile warhead re-entry environment simulation test to be performed on March 15, and threatened it will carry out a nuclear warhead explosion test and a test-firing of a ballistic rocket that could be equipped with a nuclear warhead in the near future in order to increase its readiness for a nuclear attack. As a result, the additional possibility of the 5th nuclear experiment and long-range missile firing was suggested to show off its miniaturization of a nuclear weapon and ICBM(Intercontinental Ballistic Missile).

 

In this regard, Minister Han Min-koo said, “We are expecting two nuclear warhead explosion tests. One is the same with a nuclear experiment that the explosion happens underground at the underground nuclear experimental facility using a warhead to be mounted on a missile, and the other one is for detonation only after eliminating nuclear substances from a warhead.”

 

He has also sent a strong message to North Korea, urging their military to stop further nuclear experiments and ballistic missile firing, warning that North Korea will be isolated and face destruction due to tougher sanctions from Republic of Korea and the international community if it ignores and provokes us again.  

 

On the possibility of a 5th nuclear experiment and its timing, Minister Han answered that while he cannot say anything conclusively he has been observing North Korea closely since Kim Jong-un ordered the nuclear warhead experiment.

 

He also said, “North Korea is a country that is absolutely focused on executing Kim Jong-un’s instructions. We guess the possible threat can be realized if there is determination from the leadership. Our forces have been thoroughly observing the tunnel and its surroundings where North Korea is conducting the nuclear experiment.”

 

North Korea reported that it had completed a ‘solid fuel rocket launching test’ to show off its enhanced missile attack capability on March 24. Unlike a liquid fuel rocket, a solid fuel missile does not require the injection of fuel, so it can be rapidly launched and moved for a long time while mounted on a launcher vehicle. This is a relative advantage for military operations.

 

Minister Han explained, “Development of a solid fuel propulsion engine requires fives stages including a missile design, the development and production of propellant, fire test, system combination and test flight stage, and North Korea is assumed to reach the 3rd stage. The stages of system combination, test flight and mass-production for deployment still remain before combat arrangement.”

 

Minister Han clearly expressed his opinion regrading the concerns of any possible effects on our Kill Chain and KAMD if North Korea cuts down the fueling time for ballistic missile with solid fuel.

 

He said, “Since North Korea carries out liquid fueling at the tunnel position, there will be less impact on Kill Chain even if the liquid fuel missile turns into a solid fuel one. The time can be different depending on the type of missile, it will still be exposed to our military surveillance system for about an hour on the average. And I think North Korea’s using of solid fuel would affect on the only about 4 minutes during the start fueling.”

 

As for the discussion on the deployment of THAAD(Terminal High Altitude Area Defense), which a Korea-US joint working group has been working on, Minister Han said, “We are developing and evaluating conditions for a base of operations in which the military utility can be optimized. The joint working group will follow the planned schedule one step at a time.” Futhermore, in terms of objections from China, Minister Han clarified that it is a matter of our sovereign and basic rights.

 

Regarding the Republic of Korea security situation that the country is threatened by North Korean nuclear weapons, Minister Han said “Our forces promise to deter North Korea's threats by fully mobilizing all available means and capabilities, and will make every effort to secure all possible means for a reaction posture that punishes North Korea in this time of emergency.”

 

By Byeong-No, Yun < trylover@dema.mil.kr >
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