South Korea develops system to intercept North Korean artillery

The South Korean military is working to develop key technology to counter the threat of North Korean long-range artillery attacks.

North Korean rocket launchers fire during a military exercise. Photo: Chaplain News.

South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) report said the country's Agency for Defense Development is working to develop an indigenous anti-rocket system to counter threats from North Korea's forward-deployed long-range artillery, Yonhap reported yesterday.

"We are considering deploying interceptor systems to counter enemy artillery and rocket attacks on key military facilities, such as war command headquarters and air and missile defense systems," the report stressed.

The report comes amid concerns that South Korea is ill-prepared to counter the massive artillery force North Korea has deployed on its border, which could unleash half a million shells to destroy the capital Seoul and surrounding areas in just one hour.

The South Korean military initially considered importing a foreign defense system such as Israel's "Iron Dome" for the project, but later canceled it due to the high cost and the mountainous terrain on the Korean peninsula not being suitable for the system.

According to Business Insider, North Korea currently possesses 21,100 ground artillery systems, including the M1978 Koksan artillery with a range of up to 40 km with conventional ammunition or 60 km with extended-range ammunition. This type of artillery far surpasses South Korea's most modern K9 Thunder self-propelled artillery in both range and destructive power.

In addition to the M1978 Koksan, North Korea also has many other types of artillery, including thousands of towed and self-propelled artillery batteries with calibers ranging from 120 mm to 152 mm. All are well camouflaged in a state of combat readiness, making them very difficult for the enemy to detect.

According to Danviet