Positioning Missile with Range of 300 km within the Year

Within this year, strategic ground to ground missiles with a range of 300 km that reaches most areas of North Korea, including Shinuijoo and Ganggye, will be established in the actual battlefield.

The Ministry of National Defense announced on November 5 that they are adopting Missile “ATACMS Block 1A” (Picture) with a range of 300 km, a strategic ground to ground missile made by Lockheed-Martin of the U.S. and will place them on the eastern front line.

This missile is an improved model of the previous “ATACMS Block 1,” with a range of 165 km that had been adopted in 1997 by the U.S. with a heightened accuracy and lengthened range. This is the first time for the U.S. to sell this missile to a foreign country.

So far, the Republic of Korea Army has only possessed missiles with a range of fewer than 180 km –within the restrictions according to the Korean-American Missile Guideline. However, the revision of the guideline under the mutual agreement in 2001 enabled the adaptation of the missile with a range of more than 300 km. The military is adapting the new missile in order to counteract North Korea’s scud missile with a range of 300 ~ 550 km.

An account from the military said, “With the adaptation of the new missile, we now possess great strategic hit capacity against core facilities such as commanding offices, missile and air force bases, and communication facilities in the rear areas of North Korea.”

Model “ATACMS Block 1A” missile costs about 1.3 million won per piece, with 110 pieces to be brought in by next year. This missile contains 300 shells per piece and can destruct three to four soccer fields (400 m×500 m) with one attack.

In addition, the Ministry is also known to have been planning to adopt an improved model of 227 mm, 1600 multi-instrument rocket shells with the range of around 40 km for the purpose of strengthening the military power.

Sang-Ho Yun ysh1005@donga.com