South Korea to boost missile defense system against missile threats from North Korea 1501142

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Defence & Security News - South Korea
 
 
Wednesday, January 15, 2014 03:53 PM
 
South Korea to boost missile defense system against missile threats from North Korea.
South Korea has said that the country must have a multi-layered missile defense to bolster combat readiness in the face of continued missile threats from North Korea that has become rampant over the years.
     
South Korea has said that the country must have a multi-layered missile defense to bolster combat readiness in the face of continued missile threats from North Korea that has become rampant over the years.
South Korea currently has 48 Patriot PAC-2 missiles imported from Germany.
     

Rep. Yoo Seong-min of the Saenuri Party, who chairs the parliamentary defense committee in South Korea, said the conventional missile program to shoot down flying missiles will be weak to deal with North Korea's long-range missiles, the South Korean Yonhap News Agency reports.

South Korea currently has 48 Patriot PAC-2 missiles imported from Germany. They have a low interception rate of only 40 percent. The nation is now allocating a major budget to upgrade the sytem to PAC-3, also known as "hit-to-kill" missiles, which come with improved accuracy. South Korea will also seek to develop indigenous medium and long-range "surface-to-air" missiles as part of its mid-term defense plan, the agency reports.

In October 2013, the U.S. Defense Security Cooperation Agency announced that South Korea is seeking Patriot missiles and associated logistics and training from the United States through a $40 million foreign military sales deal.

"I question whether the current missile defense system is enough to protect people's lives. If that's not enough and people are in danger, we should establish a new security strategy," Yoo was quoted as saying, during a panel discussion at the National Assembly. South Korean defense minister Kim Kwan-jin, his military officials and security experts were also present at the discussion.

The plan to develop missiles comes only a day after the US Navy announced Tuesday that it would deploy a new nuclear-powered aircraft carrier to replace the one known as 'USS George Washington' in the Yokosuka Naval Base in Japan.