south korea asking permission to defend itself…
south korea wants to build better missiles to attack north korea(link)
in what is possibly an attempt at a political deterrent to the north, an official hinted, announced might have been a better word, that south korea wants to build long range missiles capable of hinting north korea in its belly button.
according to the article, a 2001 agreement limits the range on south korean missiles (to hit what? itself?), and south korea wants more firepower. the agreement doesn’t limit the range on cruise missiles, but those are supposedly slower and easier to stop.
what’s interesting is the actual distance between seoul and pyongyang. north korea’s capital is 120 miles away from seoul and within striking distance of the current missiles whose range is 186 miles. even if the missiles were hidden 20 miles south of seoul, pyongyang would still be in south korea’s target radius. assuming there was war and both of the capitals were annihilated, what target would south korea want to hit?
this could mean several things.
1: south korea means to hit two birds with one stone. by asking the most powerful nation (the u.s.) for permission to create more powerful missiles, a message is sent to every nation in the region that peace is at stake with a peninsula loaded with ballistics. japan will want to create bigger missiles, taiwan will want to create bigger missiles, and china and russia will be left wondering when all of their neighbors started carrying boards with nails in them. it also sends a message to north korea: we aren’t messing around.
2: saying you want to destroy your southern neighbor is one thing. saying it to them when they have the latest in ballistics while you’re testing hussein’s old scuds is another. north korea knows that an armed south will make it harder for them to make threats. the north has also been given the hand by the u.s. who is basically saying, we’re gonna leave these here and go deal with iran. by giving south korea the reins to the conflict, the u.s. makes it that much harder for the north to extort it for aid. imagine your little brother getting picked on by a bully. give your brother the means to protect himself, and you can walk away and handle other pressing matters. the bully, with nothing to gain and no desire to hurt itself by engaging in a meaningless battle, will have to find another way to get attention.
3: south korea can obviously hit pyongyang now. that’s a given — where else would they point any missiles they had? long-range capability means several things. with a long-reaching missile, south korea can build missile deploying sites closer to its southern border and allowing more flexibility with choosing site locations. it also gives south korea the ability to reach the northernmost parts of north korea. why would south korea want to do that? having the u.s. on your side can do wonders for intelligence gathering efforts, and i’m sure south korea knows where some of those northern missile sites are located. this measure would be as much defensive as it is offensive. the north, not being totally stupid, knows this.
the north may respond to this with more rhetoric. it might give in to peace talks which would be in the best interests of all the countries in the region. north korea’s test to the u.n. by sending a ship to myanmar failed, so it will be up to the north to realize it needs to either dig up or stop digging. the hole that it’s created is huge, and it needs to come back to the table and be a part of the global community.
