S. Korea should seek better missiles to match N. Korean threat: commander

By Sam Kim
SEOUL, Sept. 24 (Yonhap) -- South Korea needs to step up its efforts to compete
with North Korea in the development of missile capabilities, a South Korean
commander named as the next chief of general staff said Thursday.

"North Korea is threatening us with missiles" of various ranges, Lee Sang-eui
said in a pre-hearing statement to the parliamentary national security committee,
which began a vetting process on him.
"We, too, need to possess further improved missile capabilities," he said,
expressing willingness to look into "long-term measures to reinforce" them.
South Korea is under a voluntary ban on the development of missiles to not exceed
a range of 300km and a throw-weight of 500kg, backed by the U.S. which has 28,500
troops stationed here.
South Korea has been under increasing domestic pressure to exit the ban since
North Korea conducted its second nuclear test in May and launched in April a
long-range rocket that could be converted into a ballistic missile.
The controversy heightened in July when U.S. Gen. Walter Sharp, top American
commander in South Korea, said he does not see an immediate need for the Asian
ally to develop longer-range missiles.
The defense ministry in Seoul discounted the remark, leaving the door open for
talks on the issue between the defense ministers of the two allies in October.
The two Koreas remain technically at war, as the 1950-53 Korean War ended in a
ceasefire instead of a peace treaty.
Until 2001, South Korea had been limited to 180km in missile range under an
agreement with the U.S., which feared an arms race between the Cold War rivals on
the Korean Peninsula and in the region.
samkim@yna.co.kr
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