North Korea deploys new mid-range missile -South
(Adds North Korean media, paragraph 12)
By Jon Herskovitz
SEOUL, Feb 23 (Reuters) - North Korea, which has warned the Korean peninsula is on the brink of war, has deployed new missiles to hit more parts of Asia and improved its ability to attack the South, a South Korean defence paper said on Monday.
The isolated North could also test-fire by the end of this month its longest-range missile, which is designed to strike U.S. territory but has never successfully flown, a leading defence analyst said at the weekend.
South Korea's Defence White Paper said the North had deployed a new mid-range missile that can travel up to 3,000 km (1,865 miles) to hit all of its rival Japan and threaten U.S. military bases in Guam.
The North already has hundreds of rudimentary ballistic missiles that could hit all of South Korea and most of Japan, the Seoul government has said. [ID:nSEO315320]
"North Korea's conventional force, its development and reinforcement of weapons of mass destruction such as nuclear weapons and missiles, and the forward deployment of its troops are a direct and serious threat to our security," the paper said.
The biannual paper said the North, which has 1.19 million troops, had increased the number of its special warfare soldiers by 60,000 to now total 180,000 while modernising its light infantry to improve its strike force pointed at the South.
The paper said the reclusive state had produced about 40 kg (88 lb) of plutonium. Experts said that would be enough for at least five nuclear weapons.
Proliferation experts have said the North, which tested a nuclear device in 2006, does not have the technology to make a nuclear weapon small enough to mount as a warhead.
South Korean officials have said they were worried the North may also try to escalate tension by firing short-range missiles towards a disputed Yellow Sea border with the South off the west coast of the peninsula that has been the scene of deadly naval conflicts between the rival Koreas.
SOUTH KOREA ALSO HEAVILY ARMED
Analysts do not think the impoverished North will risk a larger conflict because its antiquated but massive military would be no match for South Korea with 670,000 troops and its powerful U.S. ally, which positions about 28,000 soldiers in the South.
U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton warned the prickly North during a visit to Seoul last Friday not to make any provocative moves, to stop taunting its southern neighbour and return to sputtering international nuclear disarmament talks.
But on Monday, the North's official media unleashed more insults by calling South Korean President Lee Myung-bak's government a group of "political charlatans" and warned again that war was imminent.
Analysts have said the North, which for years has used its military threat to squeeze concessions out of global powers, may feel it can improve its bargaining position over the long term with the new U.S. government by making provocative moves early in its term.
In a news release at the weekend, Joseph Bermudez, a leading analyst with Jane's Defence Weekly, said recent satellite imagery showed North Korea could be ready for the launch of its longest-range missile within a matter of days.
If the launch is successful, North Korea will have a missile with a maximum estimated range of 6,700 km (4,200 miles), designed to carry a nuclear warhead that could hit U.S. territory, although not the contiguous 48 states.
This would, for the first time, pose a direct security threat by the North to the United States.
(Additional reporting by Kim Junghyun; Editing by Nick Macfie and Dean Yates)
By Jon Herskovitz
SEOUL, Feb 23 (Reuters) - North Korea, which has warned the Korean peninsula is on the brink of war, has deployed new missiles to hit more parts of Asia and improved its ability to attack the South, a South Korean defence paper said on Monday.
The isolated North could also test-fire by the end of this month its longest-range missile, which is designed to strike U.S. territory but has never successfully flown, a leading defence analyst said at the weekend.
South Korea's Defence White Paper said the North had deployed a new mid-range missile that can travel up to 3,000 km (1,865 miles) to hit all of its rival Japan and threaten U.S. military bases in Guam.
The North already has hundreds of rudimentary ballistic missiles that could hit all of South Korea and most of Japan, the Seoul government has said. [ID:nSEO315320]
"North Korea's conventional force, its development and reinforcement of weapons of mass destruction such as nuclear weapons and missiles, and the forward deployment of its troops are a direct and serious threat to our security," the paper said.
The biannual paper said the North, which has 1.19 million troops, had increased the number of its special warfare soldiers by 60,000 to now total 180,000 while modernising its light infantry to improve its strike force pointed at the South.
The paper said the reclusive state had produced about 40 kg (88 lb) of plutonium. Experts said that would be enough for at least five nuclear weapons.
Proliferation experts have said the North, which tested a nuclear device in 2006, does not have the technology to make a nuclear weapon small enough to mount as a warhead.
South Korean officials have said they were worried the North may also try to escalate tension by firing short-range missiles towards a disputed Yellow Sea border with the South off the west coast of the peninsula that has been the scene of deadly naval conflicts between the rival Koreas.
SOUTH KOREA ALSO HEAVILY ARMED
Analysts do not think the impoverished North will risk a larger conflict because its antiquated but massive military would be no match for South Korea with 670,000 troops and its powerful U.S. ally, which positions about 28,000 soldiers in the South.
U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton warned the prickly North during a visit to Seoul last Friday not to make any provocative moves, to stop taunting its southern neighbour and return to sputtering international nuclear disarmament talks.
But on Monday, the North's official media unleashed more insults by calling South Korean President Lee Myung-bak's government a group of "political charlatans" and warned again that war was imminent.
Analysts have said the North, which for years has used its military threat to squeeze concessions out of global powers, may feel it can improve its bargaining position over the long term with the new U.S. government by making provocative moves early in its term.
In a news release at the weekend, Joseph Bermudez, a leading analyst with Jane's Defence Weekly, said recent satellite imagery showed North Korea could be ready for the launch of its longest-range missile within a matter of days.
If the launch is successful, North Korea will have a missile with a maximum estimated range of 6,700 km (4,200 miles), designed to carry a nuclear warhead that could hit U.S. territory, although not the contiguous 48 states.
This would, for the first time, pose a direct security threat by the North to the United States.
(Additional reporting by Kim Junghyun; Editing by Nick Macfie and Dean Yates)
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