South Korea on Thursday unveiled two new missiles capable of hitting targets anywhere in North Korea.
| That will certainly make life interesting for some north of the border. |
The Hyunmu-3 cruise missile has a range of 1,500 km and is capable of precision attacks on key North Korean facilities, including nuclear and missile installations, while the Hyunmu-2 ballistic missile has a 300 km range and can destroy a target the size of scores of a soccer field.
The military had kept the existence of the missiles a top secret but decided to unveil them to ease public jitters after Pyongyang's latest threats to strike Seoul.
Major General Shin Won-sik told reporters the cruise missiles are "capable of striking targets anywhere in North Korea."
The Hyunmu-3 is said to be more accurate than the U.S.-made Tomahawk cruise missile with a range of between 1,300 km to 2,500 km. It can be launched from both ground-based mobile platforms and Aegis-class destroyers and submarines.
The Hyunmu-2 ballistic missile's range is restricted to 300 km due to a treaty with the U.S. that limits the reach of South Korea's missiles, but could apparently travel up to 500 km. It can hit targets with 30 m accuracy. |