S. Korea raises military alert status

South Korea and the U.S. remain on high alert Wednesday, upgrading their “Watchcon” intelligence surveillance posture toward North Korea, as they detected signs of Pyongyang’s imminent simultaneous and multiple missile launches.

The South Korea-U.S. Combined Forces Command (CFC) upgraded the Watchcon by one notch in preparations against the North’s missile provocations. Under a Watchcon upgrade, the combined forces increase the operation of their intelligence surveillance assets and double or triple the number of intelligence analysts. “We are monitoring the North’s missile movements in the east coast by mobilizing all surveillance assets such as surveillance satellites and the U-2 patrol aircrafts,” a CFC official said.

The South Korean military authorities are also preparing for the possibility of a North Korean missile violating South Korean airspace. “If the North launches a missile eastward, it would send it flying between Hokkaido and Honshu. If southward, the missile would fly over South Korean airspace before flying past an area between (South Korea’s) Jeju Island and Japan’s Kyushu and plunging into waters off the east coast of the Philippines,” a South Korean government official said.

The official also noted that South Korea’s PAC-2 missile defense system is not capable of intercepting the North’s Musudan missile, which could hit a target within 4,000 kilometers, as it is expected to fly over 100 kilometers above the South. “It is the (South Korean) military’s basic position to never fail to retaliate if (the North Korean missile) does even the smallest harm to our people,” the official added.

Noting it is highly likely for the North to have infused liquid fuel into two Musudan missiles that have recently been moved to the east coast, a South Korean military official said that the North can launch them any time “if a political decision is made.”

A source in the South Korean government said, “We have additionally confirmed that four to five mobile missile launch pads have been deployed to the Donghan Bay area, which spans over South Hamgyong and Gangwon provinces.

North Korea launched a Taepodong-2 missile, four Scud missiles and two Rodong-2 missiles in July 2006. Three years later, the communist country fired five Scuds and two Rodong-2s.

ysh1005@donga.com