KIS, South Korea plans to deploy new surface-to-surface missiles that are capable of hitting most of North Korea this month, greatly improving its strike capability against the North, the Defense Ministry said on Wednesday (Nov. 5).
The deployment of a total of 110 ATACMS Block 1As, together with 10 launch pads, will begin this month and be completed by the end of next year, officials said.
The missiles have a strike range of 300 kilometers, covering North Korean cities in the northern part of the communist state, such as Sinuiju, Ganggye and Songjin.
An improved model of the 165 km-range ATACMS Block 1, which was first introduced in this country in 1997, the ATACMS Block 1A has a wider shooting range and is much more accurate, ministry officials said.
So far, South Korea has possessed the “Hyunmoo” missile with a range of only 180 km as the Seoul-Washington agreement, based on the Missile Technology Control Regime (MTCR), prohibited it from obtaining longer-range missiles.
The Hyunmoo missiles cannot even reach Pyongyang, the North
