Agence France-Presse, North Korea has successfully tested a highly mobile short-range missile that could hit targets inside South Korea with chemical or explosive warheads, a lawmaker said Oct. 11.
The communist state successfully launched the KN-02 missile in June, said Kim Hak-Song, a member of parliament’s defense committee.
Quoting a recent report to parliament by the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Kim said the missile has a range of 120 kilometers (75 miles).
“The KN-O2 missile, as it runs on solid fuel, can be fired easily while being moved around. Its precision strike ability has also improved,” Kim said in a statement.
Missiles powered by solid fuel are easier to stockpile and can be fired quicker than those powered by liquid fuel.
Kim said the KN-O2 can hit targets south of Seoul, including the U.S. military base at Pyeongtaek, 70 kilometers south of the capital. The base would not be in range of the North’s aged FROG missiles and guns deployed along the border.
“Its payload is estimated at 500 kilograms (1,100 pounds) and it can carry chemical and highly explosive warheads,” he said.
U.S. Army Gen. B.B. Bell, commander of U.S. forces in South Korea, warned in July that the North was upgrading its arsenal to make its missiles more mobile and easier to launch.
He said new short-range missiles were “advanced” weapons which could directly harm South Korea, its people and troops.
“These are modern and solid-fuel, which means that they are easy to handle and rapidly capable of being fired,” Bell said. “They are technically threatening to this nation. Missiles of this nature could be used by any foreign nations to prosecute a tactical war.”
North Korea has sold about 100 missiles to Syria, Iran and other countries each year, Yonhap news agency said in a recent report.
The U.S. has accused North Korea of being a leading global proliferator of weapons of mass destruction.
In July 2006, the North test-fired seven missiles, including the Taepodong-2 which in theory could reach the U.S. west coast.
