South Korea has proven off its strongest ballistic missile for the primary time in an annual army parade which indicators the nation’s readiness to reply to North Korean threats.
The Hyunmoo-5 – which analysts say is able to carrying an 8-tonne typical warhead that may penetrate deep into the earth and destroy underground bunkers in North Korea – was the centrepiece of the Armed Forces Day parade at a Seoul airbase which additionally included some 5,300 troops, 340 forms of army gear and plane flypasts.
A second, smaller parade came about on the streets of Seoul, drawing giant crowds.
“If North Korea makes an attempt to make use of nuclear weapons, it would face the resolute and overwhelming response of our army and the [South Korea]-US alliance,” President Yoon Suk-yeol advised hundreds of troops who gathered on the base on Tuesday. “That day would be the finish of the North Korean regime.”
“The North Korean regime should abandon the delusion that nuclear weapons will shield them,” Yoon stated.
Since taking workplace in 2022, Yoon has revived the custom of annual army parades as a part of his technique of “peace by power”, and has backed a stronger army alliance with the US in addition to nearer cooperation between Seoul, Washington and Tokyo.
This 12 months’s parade additionally included a flypast by a United States B-1B strategic bomber for the primary time, whereas the US Eighth Military band and an armoured Stryker brigade additionally took half.
Dubbed a “monster missile” by South Korean media, the Hyunmoo-5 was examined efficiently final 12 months.
The army launched the weapon because the “extremely high-power Hyunmoo ballistic missile”, which was positioned on two nine-axle transporter-erector-launcher (TEL) autos.
The Hyunmoo-5 is categorised as short-range, but when topped with a 1-tonne warhead – typical for ballistic missiles – its vary can exceed 5,000km (3,107 miles), in response to Yu Yong-weon, a lawmaker on South Korea’s parliamentary defence committee.
Yoon’s workplace stated the missile performs a key position within the nation’s “three-axis” defence system geared toward neutralising North Korea’s nuclear provocations, together with battle plans that decision for preemptive strikes if mandatory.
Hours earlier than the ceremony, Kim Kang Il, North Korea’s vice defence minister, criticised the B-1B’s deliberate flypast and in addition accused Washington of conducting a “reckless army bluff” by not too long ago sending a nuclear-powered submarine to South Korea.
Final month, North Korea launched images of its uranium enrichment facility. It has additionally continued to conduct common test launches of weapons in defiance of worldwide sanctions.