South Korea’s defense chief on Monday warned North Korea against its intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) launches, saying Seoul and Washington could deploy additional strategic assets or conduct “decapitation” drills against the North Korean leadership.
Earlier in the day, Pyongyang fired an ICBM into the East Sea, the fifth such launch this year and the highest number ever recorded in a single year. A day earlier, the North launched a short-range missile from Pyongyang.
In an interview with local cable channel MBN, Defense Minister Shin Won-sik said South Korea and the United States are considering the two options of deploying further U.S. strategic assets and drills to “decapitate” the North Korean leadership should North Korea continue its provocations.
“It is difficult to speak publicly about the decapitation (exercise),” Shin said, while noting that South Korean and U.S. special forces are holding combined aerial maneuvers and facilities raid training this week.
Shin said talks were also under way for the deployment of U.S. strategic assets “within a few days,” with joint South Korea-U.S. drills and a trilateral one, involving Japan, being considered in conjunction with the deployment.
Regarding the latest ICBM launch, Shin said that Seoul assesses the missile to be a Hwasong-18 solid-fuel ICBM, which the North fired in April and July this year.
“Looking at the (missile’s) maximum altitude, flight distance and top speed, it is similar to the Hwasong-18 fired in July,” he said, noting that the launch used a three-stage rocket, unlike the two-stage rockets used in the North’s Hwasong-15 and 17 liquid-fuel ICBMs.
Shin said the missile’s flight appeared to be successful, although the North is assessed to have yet to complete development of atmospheric reentry technology for the missile’s warhead.
The South’s Joint Chiefs of Staff said the missile flew about 1,000 kilometers at a lofted trajectory before landing in the East Sea.
He assessed the launch as the final one before the ninth plenary meeting of the eighth Central Committee of the North’s ruling Workers’ Party later this month to demonstrate progress in the development of one of the country’s key strategic weapons projects.
A solid-fuel ICBM is one of the five major projects the North put forward at a key party congress in January 2021.
Shin also said South Korea, the United States and Japan will officially announce a system to share North Korean missing warning data in real-time within the “next 24 hours.”
“Before, we only shared maritime detection methods, but now the difference is we will share all missile data detection methods, including those on the ground,” he said.
In August, President Yoon Suk Yeol, U.S. President Joe Biden and Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida reaffirmed efforts to operationalize the data-sharing system by the end of this year in a joint statement adopted at their Camp David summit.
Source: Yonhap News Agency