Israeli reservists stand on an armored personnel carrier (APC) at a military camp near Beer Sheva, Monday. Israel said it had called up an unprecendented 300,000 reservists and warned residents in parts of the Gaza Strip to leave, in the latest sign that it could be planning a ground attack on Hamas. EPA-Yonhap

The recent surprise attack by the Palestinian militant group Hamas on Israel has prompted South Korea to reassess its deterrence strategy against a potential North Korean invasion. Analysts highlighted the need for Seoul to prepare for multi-front attacks by Pyongyang, a tactic used by the Hamas militant group.

Hamas launched thousands of rockets from the blockaded Gaza Strip into Israel, Saturday, while employing guerrilla tactics that involved hundreds of gunmen infiltrating the country via land, sea, and air, some using paragliders. The unprecedented scale of attacks, which caught Israeli security forces off guard, has raised concerns of simliar assaults by North Korea against the South.

"The Hamas attack showed that a country relying heavily on advanced military hardware could fail to defend itself in the case of sudden attacks," said Yang Uk, a senior fellow at the Asan Insitute for Policy Studies, pointing to the failure of Israel's Iron Dome, which is regarded as the world's leading air defense system.

Despite its known interception rate of 90 percent, the Iron Dome was overwhelmed by the barrage of rockets fired by Hamas, with some managing to bypass the system resulting in civilian caualties and damage to infrastructure.

According to South Korean military sources, North Korea has deployed more than 1,000 long-range artillery pieces near the Military Demarcation Line (MDL), capable of firing approximately 16,000 shells per hour. Among those, some 340 are aimed at Seoul and it surrounding areas.

South Korea had once considered procuring the Israeli Iron Dome, Yang said, but ultimately decided against it because the system was developed to deter mortar shells, which are less powerful than artillery rounds and short-range ballistic missiles fired by North Korea.

Instead, Seoul is developing its own defensive shield called the Low Altitude Missile Defense (LAMD) system to counter the North's long-range artillery and plans to deploy it by 2026.

Yang also expressed concerns about the decreasing number of soldiers stationed in strategic locations as South Korea grapples with a chronic shortage of military personnel.

Shin Jong-woo, a senior researcher at the Korea Defense and Security Forum, a think tank, underscored the importance of strengthened intelligence capabilities and monitoring the North, mentioning the failure of the Israeli forces to preemptively detect signs of Hamas's attacks.

"It appears that the Israeli intelligence services did not detect any signs that Hamas was preparing to launch the coordinated land, air and sea strikes that were obviously planned for a long time," Shin said.

In order for the South Korean forces to better monitor the North's military activities, Seoul should also utilize its air surveillance assets near the border areas, he added.

Such actions would require scrapping the Sep. 19 inter-Korean military agreement, signed in 2018 by the liberal Moon Jae-in administration, which created military buffer zones along land and sea boundaries and no-fly zones above the border.

Defense Minister Shin Won-shik leaves the session of the National Assembly National Defense Committee's audit into the ministry, held at the ministry building in Seoul, Tuesday. Yonhap

The effectiveness of the military accord, however, has been called into question in recent months as Pyongyang has repeatedly taken military actions in blatant disregard of the agreement, advancing its nuclear and missile programs.

Seoul's new defense minister Shin Won-shik said he would push for the suspension of the military agreement.

Shin, who was sworn in as the new defense chief on Saturday, said Israel would have suffered less damage from Hamas's recent attack if it had conducted surveillance using unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs).

"I will push for the suspension (of the Sept. 19 inter-Korean military agreement) as soon as possible," he told the press, Tuesday, in his first meeting with reporters after taking office. "I believe a complicated legislative process is needed to fully abandon the agreement, but suspending it only requires a decision from a Cabinet meeting."

As the war entered the fourth day, as of Tuesday, about 1,600 civilians and soliders have died on both sides. The Israeli military said more than 900 people have been killed in Israel. In Gaza, more than 680 people have been killed, according to the authorities there.