Text Fwd: Seoul seeks to triple missile range

Korea Times
Seoul seeks to triple missile range
By Lee Tae-hoon

South Korea has started talks with the United States over the revision of a bilateral pact that limits its ballistic missile range to 300 kilometers, roughly half the distance between the inter-Korean border and the northern tip of North Korea, a government source said Wednesday.

"The two sides have been engaged in negotiations to extend the missile range since late last year and found a common understanding on the matter," the source said asking for anonymity.

“We believe there is a need to extend it beyond 1,000 kilometers."

The Korean Peninsula is roughly 1,030 kilometer long.

He, however, noted that the bilateral negotiations are still in their initial stages and that it remains to be seen what missile range will be agreed on.

Under an agreement reached in 2001 with the United States, which has 28,500 troops stationed here, Seoul restricted its missile range to 300 kilometers with a maximum payload of 500 kilograms.

Before then, the range was limited to 180 kilometers.

There have been growing calls to revise the pact following the North’s development of long-range missiles and its conducting of nuclear tests, as well as a series of provocative acts.

Some top military officials and experts have been vocal about the need to increase the range to more than 1,000 km to bring all of North Korea within reach and the payload weight to more than 1 ton.

They pressed for the need to revise the accord with Washington after the North tested a long-range ballistic missile and conducted its second nuclear test in April and May 2009, respectively.

Gen. Walter Sharp, commander of the U.S. Forces Korea, has expressed his skepticism over the issue over fears of a potential arms race among countries in Northeast Asia, including China and Japan.

In July 2009, Gen. Sharp said he saw no immediate need to revise the missile accord between Korea and the United States, and that Seoul had not made a formal request for a revision.

The North is believed to have developed intermediate-range missiles that can travel 3,000 kilometers, which would make Japan and U.S. military bases in Guam vulnerable targets.

Tension has been high on the Korean Peninsula since Pyongyang’s deadly artillery bombardment of Yeonpyeong Island near the maritime border in the West Sea last year, which took the lives of two South Korean Marines and two civilians.

The shelling came just eight months after Pyongyang torpedoed a South Korean frigate, killing 46 sailors.


leeth@koreatimes.co.kr