South Korea set to test fire high-power ballistic missile Hyunmoo 5 to counter North

In an effort to snub North Korea’s military assertiveness and its recent launches of nuclear-capable missiles into the East and Yellow seas, South Korea on Wednesday, February 1 announced that its Agency for Defense Development will conduct a test firing of a new high-power ballistic missile—Hyunmoo-5.

South Korea's Ministry of National Defense unveiled the ‘monster missile' that used the "cold start" technology and can annihilate North Korea on the Day of the Armed Forces of South Korea on October 1, 2022. Hyunmoo 5 (V) ballistic missile is capable of carrying the "largest warhead in the world" weighing 8 to 9 tons with a thrust of 75 ton-force and can descend at a speed of Mach 10. While the missile's maximum range is officially unknown, military experts predict that the Hyunmoo 5 (V) may travel at a maximum range of 3,000 kilometers or more. 

South Korea's launch invalidates the September 19 inter-Korean military agreement hailed as a "peace pact" on the Korean peninsula by the then-liberal Moon Jae-in administration. Seoul plans to fire the high-power ballistic missile to counter the North’s belligerence, regional hostility, and its incessant disregard for the 2018 Comprehensive Military agreement that is reduced to “name only." Hyunmoo 5 (V) will be test-launched from the Anheung test site in the Taean region, located 150 kilometers southwest of Seoul in South Korea’s South Chungcheong Province, the South Korean Agency for Defense Development said.

Credit: Twitter/@nktpnd

 In 2017, South Korea had test-fired a 'Hyunmoo-type' ballistic missile with a range of 800km from the Anheung test site of the Agency for Defense Development (ADD) under the wing of the Defense Ministry, Yonhap had reported. The launch was personally witnessed by Defense Minister Han Min-Koo. 

South Korean military issues navigational warning

On Wednesday, the South Korean military issued a navigational warning for the surrounding areas of the test site dated Friday and Saturday. The launch of Hyunmoo 5 (V) is a part of South Korea's revitalized “Three-Axis” System— “Korea Massive Punishment and Retaliation” (KMPR)— "to incapacitate" Pyongyang in case it launches a nuclear or conventional strike on South Korea. The latter would premise punishment by deterrence which will also involve targeting authoritarian dictator Kim Jong Un's potential military hideouts and bunkers.

Under South Korea's KMPR, multiple rocket launchers (K239 Cheon-mu), surface-to-surface missiles (ATACMS), bunker busters (GBU-28), and air-to-surface missiles (AGM-84H/K SLAM-ER), K239 Cheonmu and ATACMS can be deployed. It remains unclear if Seoul plans the addition of the Hyunmoo 5 (V) ballistic missile. It is, however, reported by Seoul based press services that the South Korean Defense Ministry may put Hyunmoo-5 into combat service.