ROK conducts live-fire missile drill
SEOUL — The Republic of Korea’s military on Monday conducted a live-fire missile drill after the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea’s sixth nuclear test the previous day.
According to the Joint Chiefs of Staff, the army and the air force carried out the combined exercise along the east coast.
The army fired Hyunmoo-2A surface-to-surface ballistic missiles and the air force mobilized F-15K fighter jets to fire SLAM-ER precision-guided air-to-surface missiles.
The missiles accurately hit a target in the eastern waters, the JCS said in a statement.
The homegrown Hyunmoo-2A ballistic missile has a 300-kilometer range, with the SLMA-ER missiles capable of flying up to 270 km.
Meanwhile, the ROK ruling party chief on Monday offered to send special envoys to the United States and the DPRK to resolve the peninsula’s nuclear issue.
Choo Mi-ae, chairwoman of the Democratic Party, said Seoul should never stop or give up dialogue efforts and should oppose any war breaking out on the peninsula.
She said the government should actively urge and mediate talks between the US and the DPRK within the possible range.
Strongly denouncing the DPRK’s sixth nuclear test, the ruling party head said the government and the party would sternly deal with “the reckless DPRK provocations that lead the peninsula into a crisis”.
However, Choo said dialogue and peaceful measures should be pursued to the end to prevent any war in any case.
Also on Monday, the ROK Ministry of Environment decided to grant “conditional” approval for a green audit on the site of the US Terminal High Altitude Area Defense system, which could trig- ger construction works at the site and even the deployment of four more launchers, local media said.
The condition of the area has not been established.
The small-scale green audit was launched late last year. On April 26, two mobile launchers and other THAAD elements were transported in the middle of night to the former golf course in Seongju, North Gyeongsang province, though the audit did not end.
Residents and activists demanded a strategic green audit, which requires the withdrawal of the already deployed THAAD elements and evaluates whether to deploy the US missile shield from the very beginning.
President Moon Jae-in ordered a general environmental impact assessment, under which the already deployed THAAD elements would stay on the site and the final decision would be made after the assessment.
Moon also ordered the installation of four more THAAD launchers following Pyongyang’s test in July of what it called an intercontinental ballistic missile.