SEOUL (HPD) — South Korea has the ability to detect and intercept the various missiles launched by North Korea in a recent series of nuclear strike tests against its rivals, the South Korean military said Tuesday, though it reiterated that the nuclear program Your neighbor’s development poses a serious security threat.
North Korea said on Monday that the two-week test fire included ballistic missiles, fighter jets and other assets to practice possible attacks on South Korean and US targets. The drills were intended to send a warning to Seoul and Washington, which had carried out provocative joint naval drills with a US aircraft carrier, Pyongyang added.
The North Korean launches, part of a record series of weapons tests this year, were interpreted as an attempt by leader Kim Jong Un to acquire a more intimidating arsenal to pressure rivals to accept him as a legitimate nuclear state and lift sanctions. economics against you.
The North Korean threats are “very grave and serious,” said Moon Hong Sik, acting spokesman for the South Korean Defense Ministry. However, he told reporters, South Korea’s missile defense system can detect and intercept weapons systems that North Korea said it used in its exercises.
South Korea is still trying to introduce spy satellites, various surveillance drones and more reconnaissance assets into the sea to improve its supervision over North Korea, Moon added.
However, some analysts say some of Pyongyang’s new weapons, such as the maneuverable KN-23 missile, based on Russia’s Iskander missile, and an experimental hypersonic missile, could overwhelm South Korean and US missile defenses. They also believe that if North Korea launches several missiles from different points at the same time, it will be more difficult for allies to identify the launches in advance and shoot down the projectiles.
South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol reiterated his promise to bolster South Korea’s defense in conjunction with its alliance with the United States and its trilateral security cooperation with Japan. Recent weapons demonstrations show that North Korea’s nuclear threat “gets more serious every day,” he said.
“North Korea has continuously developed and advanced its nuclear weapons capability and now threatens not only (South Korea) but the entire world, but I think North Korea can’t gain anything from nuclear,” Yoon said. to the press at his office in Seoul.
The president tried to reassure the public, asking South Koreans “not to worry too much and do the best they can in their lives and economic activities.”
International concerns about North Korea’s nuclear program have grown since North Korea passed a law last month authorizing the preemptive use of nuclear weapons in certain situations. The South Korean military has warned North Korea that it would self-destruct if it used its bombs.