South Korea is officially developing a “Frankenmissile” capable of destroying the bunkers protecting the North Korean leadership in the event of war.
The North Korean regime currently has missiles and artillery trained on the cities of South Korea, including Seoul, just 35 miles from the border.
That threat can be neutralized “quickly,” according to an army report given to South Korea’s Parliament on Oct 19, which outlined its new pre-emptive strike system, including the development of the new missile, according to the Telegraph.
The new missile could carry double the payload of current missiles, enabling it to penetrate the underground bunkers of the communist regime leaders who have threatened to turn Seoul into a “lake of fire.”
The missile has been dubbed “Frankenmissile” due to its potential to carry a beefed-up modified warhead.
Combined with current missile capabilities, the new missile would inflict “unbearable cost,” neutralizing nuclear and missile sites, as well as long-range artillery units, said the army report, according to the Korean Herald.
Previous missiles were limited to 1,100 pounds as part of a missile agreement with the United States, which was “in principle” revoked by U.S. President Donald Trump in September.
Any scenario of military action against North Korea quickly runs into the thorny issue of how to protect South Korea’s civilian population, with the capital Seoul just 35 miles from the border.
Even without a nuclear weapon, Pyongyang could use conventional missiles and artillery to potentially inflict massive damage with a worst-case scenario of 100,000 killed in two days, according to The Telegraph.
Until now South Korea only had two missiles to neutralize that threat in the event of a war. The third missile, able to carry a much more powerful payload, would be able to penetrate the extensive network of underground bunkers protecting the leadership.
“We would use those three-types of missiles as the first salvo of the missile strike and concentrate them during the initial phase of war to destroy North Korea’s long-range artillery units and missiles located in ballistic missile operating area,” the army said in its report to a parliamentary audit, according to the Korean Herald.
According to The Telegraph, the report said that a tactical surface-to-surface missile, called KTSSM, would strike embedded artillery equipment along the demilitarized zone and on the coast of border islands.
“KTSSM-I will strike the enemy’s tunnels with the 170-mm self-propelled howitzers and 240-mm multiple-rocket launch systems,” said the report.
Hyunmoo-2 ballistic missiles, with a range of up to 500 miles, would then take out the North’s nuclear and other WMD systems.
Finally, the new powerful ballistic missiles, thought to be called Hyunmoo-4, would target the state’s leadership in their bunkers.
The new missiles would “dramatically boost South Korea’s retaliation capability against North Korea,” said Kwon Yong-soo, a professor at Korea National Defense University, talking to The Korean Herald on Sept. 5. “With a 1-ton warhead ballistic missile, South Korea could target almost all of North Korea’s underground facilities.”
Fran-Stefan Grady, associate editor of The Diplomat wrote ,“Precision-guided ballistic missiles armed with a 1-ton warhead will likely have a bigger chance penetrating leadership bunkers and other underground facilities in the North.”
