By Jun Ji-hye
President Moon Jae-in and U.S. President Donald Trump have agreed to lift the limit on the maximum weight of warheads to be mounted on South Korean ballistic missiles in an effort to boost Seoul's self-defense capabilities.
They reached the agreement during a telephone conversation late Monday following the North's sixth nuclear test, Cheong Wa Dae said Tuesday.
The U.S. missile guidelines for South Korea, last revised in 2012, allowed the latter to develop a ballistic missile with a maximum range of 800 kilometers, but the payload for these missiles was not allowed to exceed 500 kilograms.
“As an effective countermeasure, Presidents Moon and Trump agreed to remove the limit on the payload of South Korean ballistic missiles under the New Missile Guidelines,” presidential spokesman Park Soo-hyun said.
The White House also said in a statement, “President Trump gave his in-principle approval to South Korea's initiative to lift restrictions on their missile payload capabilities.”
The decision was made upon the request of Moon. He first raised the need to revise the Korea-U.S. missile guidelines during his summit with Trump in Washington in late June.
The government had originally sought to double the maximum weight of the warhead to 1 ton from 500 kilograms, but this plan was changed to put no limit on the missile payload.
The payload increase will significantly bolster Seoul's capability of striking Pyongyang's underground bunker facilities in which the North Korean leadership including its leader Kim Jong-un would hide out in the event of war, military officials said.
“The decision will be effective in better responding to the North's nuclear and missile threats,” defense ministry spokesman Moon Sang-gyun said.
He added South Korea will keep closely consulting with the United States about details to amend the 2012 revision of the missile guidelines.
The South Korean military has currently deployed made-in-Korea ballistic missiles with ranges of 300 and 500 kilometers -- the Hyunmoo-2A and Hyunmoo-2B.
Hyunmoo-2A can be mounted with 2-ton warhead and Hyunmoo-2B with 1-ton warhead because a “trade-off” principle of the 2012 missile guideline allowed the weight of the warhead to increase in inverse proportion to its range. But for the 800-kilometer missiles, the weight remained at 500 kilograms.
Since the 2012 revision, Seoul has been developing a missile with a range of 800 kilometers, which went through its last test-flight Aug. 24. The military plans to deploy this missile soon.
The 800-kilometer range missile puts the whole of North Korea within striking distance, but skepticism has been constantly raised that it would be less powerful than expected because of the payload limit.
Experts said the missile topped with 500-kilogram warhead would only be able to destroy North Korean runways. Once its payload is increased, the missile could destroy bunkers up to dozens of meters underground, they said. It has been estimated the North has built more than 7,000 bunkers including those for nuclear and missile facilities.
With the scrapping of the limit on the payload, the military is expected to undertake work to upgrade its ballistic missiles.
“In accordance with the 2012 revision, South Korea has not developed advanced ballistic missiles although it has relevant technologies,” said Shin Jong-woo, a military expert at the Korea Defense and Security Forum. “It will not take much time for South Korea to develop new missiles that have credible destructive power and accuracy.”
Some experts also raise hope that the nation would be able to possess its own medium-range ballistic missile with a range of more than 1,000 kilometers in the near future.
Purchase of US weapons
Meanwhile, when announcing the results of the telephone talks between Moon and Trump, the White House said, “President Trump also provided his conceptual approval for the purchase of many billions of dollars' worth of military weapons and equipment from the United States by South Korea.”
The South Korean government did not announce such content, with speculations being raised that Washington asked Seoul to buy the U.S. weapons in return for agreeing to remove the limit on the missile payload.
Cheong Wa Dae later explained that the two leaders agreed in principle that the U.S. supports South Korea importing advanced weapons and technologies.
“Moon and Trump did not discuss the purchase of the weapons,” it said.