Korean War Reserve Stocks Dwindling

Korea has only 12 percent of target war reserve stocks in air-to-ground guided missiles, a crucial weapon for destroying North Korea’s long range missiles and anti-air missiles that can destroy enemy aircrafts, sources said on Wednesday.

Although the target number of reserve stocks is 8,895 for both air-to-ground guided missiles and anti-air missiles, which would last for 60 days in case of a war, the military has only 2,719 missiles, which would last only for 7 days, according to the annual parliamentary audit data that the Air Force recently submitted to Rep. Song Young-sun, a member of the National Assembly’s National Defense Committee.

In particular, the Air Force has none of air-to-air AIM-9X missiles that are capable of chasing and destroying enemy fighters within the 22-kilometer range. The target stock reserve for the missile is 229 and they are mounted on the F-16 fighter jets and the KF-16 fighter jet, the Air Force’s main combat jets, and the F-15 fighter jet, the next generation fighter that will be used from next year.

Moreover, the Korean army is short of Guided Bomb Unit-12s (GBU-12) and Guided Bomb Unit-24s (GBU-24), guided air-to-ground missiles which can neutralize North Korea’s long range missiles which can be fatal to Seoul and its surrounding cities at the onset of war. Although the target reserves for the two missiles are 3,693 and 729, the army has only 700 and 150, which would last just for two days.

The laser guided GBU-12 and GBU-24 fired from combat fighters can precisely hit targets hiding in a tunnel or a cave from 15 to 20 kilometers away.

In the meantime, the army will launch guided missiles headquarters on Thursday in a central region in response to the threat of North Korea’s missiles, sources said.

The guided missiles headquarters will orchestrate the use of all the artillery weapons including the multi launch rocket system (MLRS) and the army tactical missile system (ATACMS), self-propelled artillery in order to neutralize North Korea’s long range missiles and scud missiles.

North Korea currently has positioned 1,000 of 240mm rocket launchers and 175mm self-propelled howitzers near the military demarcation line. Some 300 of them are believed to be the biggest threat to Seoul and its surrounding cities.

ysh1005@donga.com