S. Korea to install artillery-tracking radar near Yellow Sea border

radar system-NK artillery


SEOUL, Jan. 29 (Yonhap) -- South Korea's military is considering positioning a
weapon-locating radar system on islands near the Yellow Sea border, in a bid to
better monitor artillery firing by North Korea, a lawmaker who was briefed on the
plan said Friday.

In a meeting with lawmakers of the National Assembly defense committee, Defense
Minister Kim Tae-young said that the military will push to deploy artillery
hunting radars, called TPQ, on Baengnyeong Island and Yeonpyeong Island just
south of the western inter-Korean sea border, Rep. Kim Hak-song who chairs the
committee said.
The radar system is capable of detecting hostile artillery by tracking
projectiles in flight and locating launching and landing points. In the past,
South Korea had temporarily deployed the radar system to the western sea border
region when tensions rose, but the latest plan seeks a permanent dispatch.
"When inter-Korean tensions flared near Yeonpyeong Island in the past, a TPQ was
deployed and later withdrawn, but the ministry told us that it has decided to
consider a permanent deployment," the lawmaker of the ruling Grand National Party
told reporters.
Tensions spiked across the western sea border after North Korea fired hundreds of
artillery shells into its own waters near the borderline over three days this
week despite warning shots from the South. North Korea said the firing was part
of a regular exercise and vowed to continue it.
North Korea fired about 300 shells first on Wednesday and 50 more over the
following two days, the lawmaker said, citing the ministry's briefing.
Both the ministry and the lawmakers concurred that the artillery firing was a
"deliberate and intentional activity" that was approved by the North Korean
leadership, Rep. Kim noted.
The western sea border, called Northern Limit Line, was unilaterally drawn by the
U.S.-led United Nations Command in the wake of the 1950-53 Korean War. North
Korea has claimed the sea border was unfairly drawn close to its coastlines and
never acknowledged it.
Three naval skirmishes took place along the Yellow Sea border in 1999, 2002 and
November last year.
hkim@yna.co.kr
(END)

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