North Korea fired off more missiles earlier today.
We are awaiting confirmation on what kind of missiles they were,... but we know they
flew hundreds of kilometers before coming down in the East Sea.
Our defense correspondent Kim Hyun-bin joins us today.
Hyun-bin I understand the significance lies in the number at this point.
The South Korean military says North Korea fired off four ballistic missiles this morning.
Experts say It is unprecedented for North Korea to fire four missiles at the same time.
"North Korea fired four ballistic missiles into the East Sea from its Tongchang-ri missile
site at 7:36 a.m. on Monday.
The missiles flew around one-thousand kilometers at an altitude of 260 kilometers.
Seoul and Washington are currently analyzing the launch."
A defense ministry official says that the missiles could be a mixture of mid-range Rodong
missiles... and Pukguksong-2 missiles, which are an upgraded version of the North's intermediate-range
Musudan ballistic missile.
Japan announced that three of the four missiles fell in its exclusive economic zone,... and
one came within 250 kilometers of Japanese land.
The South Korean military has condemned the launch.
It says it's on high alert and maintaining readiness for additional provocations.
"North Korea has launched another ballistic missile following the launch last month.
This is a clear violation of UN Security Council resolutions and an attack on the peace and
stability of South Korea and the international community."
Last Friday, the North had threatened to launch more missiles in response to the annual Key
Resolve and Foal Eagle drills between Seoul and Washington.
The large-scale field training drills called Foal Eagle has started two days before on
Wednesday... and the command post exercise Key Resolve will start next week.
It's common for North Korea to fire missiles during the drills, which are set to continue
through April, and experts expect the North to launch several more missiles through then.
This latest act is expected to solidify Seoul and Washington's commitment to deploying the
U.S. missile defense system THAAD.
This issue is becoming quite a controversy here in South Korea, with Beijing slapping
economic restrictions on South Korean products sold in China.
So why is the planned deployment causing such a fuss... and what are the pros and cons of
the defense upgrade?
South Korea and the U.S. confirmed early last year that they will bring THAAD to the peninsula.
They reached their decision after North Korea conducted its fifth nuclear test and launched
an intercontinental ballistic missile.
To get a better idea of THAAD's capabilities, let's take a look at this chart.
You can see Pyongyang has a range of missiles -- from its tactical Scud missiles, to its
intermediate-range Musudan ballistic missiles... and ICBM's.
They are also working to perfect submarine-launched ballistic missiles, creating another level
of threat since detecting an SLBM is very difficult.
During a war,... it's thought that the Scud series missiles, with a range of up to 500
kilometers, would be used to target key military facilities in the South.
Rodong missiles, which have a range of up to 15-hundred kilometers, would likely target
the U.S. base in Okinawa, Japan.
The troops there are the first U.S. troops that would be deployed in a time of crisis
on the peninsula.
The Musudan, which has a range of three thousand kilometers, is capable of reaching the U.S.
territory of Guam... and the Dapodong ICBM is able to reach the west coast of the United
States.
So with the deployment of the THAAD system, Seoul and Washington would be better able
to intercept some of these missiles when fired upon.
Before the THAAD announcement...
Seoul's defense ministry said it would pursue its own missile defense system known as Korea
Air and Missile Defense.
Officials say both systems are necessary.
Could you walk us through some of the similarities and differences?
Sure.
First, the two systems have different purposes.
The Korea Air and Missile Defense system mostly uses Patriot two and Patriot three missiles.
Both are part of a low-tier missile defense system and have an altitude range of around
15 kilometers.
THAAD is a mid-tier missile defense system able to intercept a missile from an altitude
of 150 kilometers.
So technically it gives Korea another layer of missile defense.
If THAAD misses the enemy missile, Seoul will have another chance to intercept the missile
with its low-tier Patriot missiles.
Given all of that, one expert has pointed to the potential goal of this latest launch.
"There is a possibility that North Korea fired the four missiles at once to neutralize THAAD.
However all four missiles are within THAAD's interception range so it doesn't have what
it takes to neutralize the system."
Now, we know that China is strongly opposed to the THAAD system.
What is the primary source of its objections?
Let's hear what an expert has to say
"The biggest problem is that the U.S. will be in charge of THAAD.
China is suspicious that the system could be used against them instead of North Korea."
THAAD is equipped with a X-band radar that has a detection radius of two thousand kilometers,
which, when deployed to South Korea, would make it possible to detect most of China's
key facilities.
Thank you Hyun-bin.
That was our defense correspondent Kim Hyun-bin, talking about North Korea's latest missile
launch and the issues surrounding the deployment to South Korea of the THAAD missile defense
system.
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