S.K. military plans to deploy 800-km range ballistic missile by 2017

S.K. military plans to deploy 800-km range ballistic missile by 2017. October. 02, 2015 07:15. neone@donga.com.

The South Korean military is reportedly planning to deploy for combat operation 800-km-range ballistic missiles that are capable of striking entire North Korean territory by 2017, before the end of the incumbent administration, it was reported on Thursday.

The Agency for Defense Development of South Korea has included in its five-year development plan an initiative to increase the range of ballistic missiles, which only amounted to 300 kilometers in 2013 when South Korean President Park Geun-hye inaugurated, to 800 kilometers by 2017. Recently the agency hinted at a plan to deploy 800-km range ballistic missiles. It is interpreted as suggesting that the development efforts have entered the final phase.

If the range of a ballistic missile amounts to 800 kilometers, it can strike entire North Korean territory from within the South. Even if it is fired from Jeju, it can reach the North Korean city of Shinuiju. South Korea has extended the range of ballistic missiles that it is allowed to develop from 300 kilometers to 800 kilometers by revising the South Korea-U.S. missile guidelines in October 2012.

The South successfully test-fired a ballistic missile with a range of over 500 kilometers (Hyeonmu-2B) in the presence of President Park in June last year.