Kim Jong-un's highly hated missile, the fast and powerful 'Hyunmoo V'

 

( Host )  We will seek a path to peace by accurately understanding the current state of the military standoff on the Korean Peninsula.  This is Kim Jin-guk, hosting the 'Encyclopedia of New Weapons on the Korean Peninsula' delivered from Washington DC, USA . We connect with Lee Il-woo, Secretary General of Korea's ' Independent Defense Network '  .

 

Military parade for the first time in 10 years ,  demonstrating the South Korean military's strategic deterrence capabilities

 

( Host )   On September  26th , Korea held a large-scale celebration of Armed Forces Day for the first time in 10 years . What is the significance of this event ,  which was held amidst a worsening security situation, with North Korea's nuclear weapons and missile threats intensifying and triangular cooperation between North Korea, China, and Russia strengthening ?

 

( Lee Il-woo )   Legally, Armed Forces Day is designated as October 1st , that is, the day when the ‘  Baekbone Unit  ’ of the Korean Army’s  3rd  Infantry Division broke through  the 3.8 Line during the Korean War . Looking at the date alone , it would be correct to hold the event on  October  1st ,  but this year, due to the Chuseok holiday, the event date was moved up to September 26th to ensure resting conditions for Korean soldiers, who are the main characters of Armed  Forces  Day .

 

The Armed Forces Day event has been held every year since 1956 , and  in the past, it took the form of a large-scale march of troops and equipment in Yeouido, the center of Seoul, similar to North Korea's military parade . As the civilian government came into power in the 1990s and the status of the military weakened significantly compared to the time of the military regime, Armed Forces Day events tended to be reduced .

 

Then, in 2013 , when  North Korea conducted  its third nuclear test and launched long-range missiles in succession, a large-scale equipment exhibition and street parade were held in response. This year, 10 years later, commemorates the 75th anniversary of the founding of the military and the 70th anniversary of the launch   of the ROK -   US alliance . A large-scale event was held this year .

 

This event was focused on showing off how far the South Korean military has grown and  how well it has a strategic deterrent capable of responding to the triangular threat of North Korea, China, and Russia . To this end, various strategic assets were revealed for the first time , and  U.S. troops stationed in Korea also participated in the street parade, showing off the ROK-U.S. alliance system that is stronger than at any other time in history .

 

Last week, when explaining North Korea's military parade, I explained that this type of military event contains a political message, and  this Armed Forces Day event is a demonstration of the Republic of Korea's pursuit of communist and totalitarian ideology and  the three countries that threaten world peace: North Korea, China, and Russia. It can be given the meaning that the Yoon Seok-yeol government has  shown its will to confidently take on a role in the new Cold War as a member of the liberal democracy camp that cooperates with the United States and has a strategic deterrent power that can confront the United States .

 

K- Defense industry’s overseas hit weapons are in full swing

 

( Host )   At this Armed Forces Day ceremony, many types of cutting-edge weapons were unveiled to show the strong will of the Korean government. There were many cutting-edge weapons developed independently by Korea .  Which weapons received attention ?

 

( Lee Il-woo )   What attracted the most attention were Korean tanks, armored vehicles, and  artillery weapons, which have recently been causing an export sensation in overseas markets . The K2  tank ,  K9  self-propelled howitzer , and K239  multiple rocket launcher are also exported to developed countries such as Poland ,  Australia ,  Canada ,  Norway , and  Finland, recording exports worth tens of billions of dollars , and  many countries in Europe, Asia , and  the Middle East are expressing their intention to purchase them .

 

In particular, the K2  tank,  K9  self-propelled howitzer , and K239  multiple rocket launcher are the weapon systems that the North Korean military should be most afraid of in times of war . In this Ukraine war, it is being proven every day that the performance of equipment directly affects not only the victory or defeat of the battle ,  but also the survival rate of the soldiers onboard . The K2  tank has high-performance aiming equipment and a main gun that can unilaterally capture and destroy all types of tanks possessed by the North Korean Army from a distance that North Korean tanks cannot attack, and can defend against almost all anti-tank weapons possessed by the North Korean Army  . Wearing composite gloves made of high-tech materials .

 

The K9  self-propelled howitzer and  the K239  multiple rocket launcher are weapons that North Korea, which attaches great importance to artillery, will be astonished when they see their performance in person . All artillery in North Korea ,  called 'self-propelled artillery' or 'self-propelled howitzer artillery' in North Korea, runs on the road and when they receive an order to fire, they stop, lower the artillery, aim the artillery manually, and load the artillery, firing for as short as 5 minutes or as  long  as 5  minutes . requires more than  10 minutes to prepare for launch , but the K9  self-propelled howitzer and  K239  multiple rocket launcher can prepare for launch and pour shells within  30 seconds and 1 minute, respectively . Because the entire process of aiming ,  heat dissipation ,  loading , and  firing is automated, it is a world-class artillery weapon that can continuously change positions and fire artillery fire even before the North Korean military fires a counterattack .

 

In addition to these large-scale equipment, the Korean Army introduced a variety of unmanned weapon systems that are currently in service or under development.  As Korea boasts unrivaled competitiveness in the electronics field ,  the unmanned weapons showcased that day were like robots straight out of a science fiction movie. It created excitement that these weapons might soon appear on the Korean Peninsula battlefield .

 

Through this Armed Forces Day event, South Korea is assessed to have sent a message to North Korea that it possesses an overwhelmingly superior military power that is qualitatively different from the equipment that North Korea recently displayed at military parades, in other words, telling North Korea not to act rashly  .

 

‘Hyunmoo -V ’ ( high-yield Hyunmoo ballistic missile ) as powerful as Taekwon V 

 

( Host )   Many types of weapons were unveiled at this Armed Forces Day event,  but is there one weapon that deserves special attention ? It was known to be revealed for the first time at this Armed Forces Day event, but it never made an appearance ?

 

( Lee Il-woo )   The most anticipated weapon at this Armed Forces Day event was a new ballistic missile called Hyunmoo-V .

 

The Defense Information Agency under the Ministry of National Defense of the Republic of Korea used the name Hyunmoo-V for the first time , and  the media raced to dictate that a weapon called Hyunmoo -V would appear for the first time at this event ,  but only Hyunmoo -IV appeared at the event .

 

We directly confirmed with the military authorities who held this event that Hyunmoo-V did not appear , but  it was an incident that occurred because the Defense Public Relations Agency erroneously reported the event with incorrect information and  the media accepted it . The official position of the Korean military is that the name Hyunmoo -V does not exist , and  only the name High Yield Hyunmoo Ballistic Missile is used . The existence of this missile was first revealed last year , and  development was recently completed , but  it is said to have not been made public because it is not yet at the stage of actual deployment .

 

The specific specifications were a military secret, but  in  April of last year ,  a mobile missile launch vehicle carrying this missile ,  ' TEL ', was discovered on a local Korean road in Korea, showing that it was a large, completely different size from the Korean military's existing ballistic missile 'Hyunmoo' series. It was revealed that it was a ballistic missile .

 

Hyunmoo-V is so large that it is at least  16m  long and  1.6m in diameter , so it is operated with  one launcher mounted on a large trailer-type launch vehicle . The launch weight is  36 tons ,  which is nearly  20 times larger than the US ATACMS tactical ballistic missile . This missile's  first stage propellant ,  that is, the thrust rocket at the bottom of the missile, reaches  75 tf .  Just by looking at these specifications, you can see how monstrous this missile is .

 

Hyunmoo-V appears to be a ballistic missile aimed only at North Korea , but  its size and propellant thrust are comparable to the Minuteman -III , an American intercontinental ballistic missile . Minuteman -III is similar to Hyunmoo , with a length of  18.2 m,  a diameter of  1.7 m,  a launch weight of  35.3 tons , and a first-stage propellant thrust of  80 tf . Then , a question may arise as to whether Korea created an intercontinental ballistic missile like the Minuteman -III .  The reason Korea created such a missile was not to increase the range and attack distant foreign countries, but to maximize  the destructive power by extremely increasing the payload weight. This is to raise it to .

 

When the range of this missile is  reduced to 300 km, that is, to hit Pyongyang, the warhead weight can be raised to  8 tons, which is more than  10 times that of a typical ballistic missile, and when the range is set to  600 km  ,  which can hit the entire North Korea , the warhead weight can be increased to 8 tons. can be made to 6  tons . If the warhead weight is reduced to  1 ton, the level of a typical ballistic missile , the range will increase to  3,000 km , which is enough to hit most major cities in China .

 

Assuming it hits Pyongyang, it is possible to estimate the level of power and precision this missile will show because the results of several live-fire tests conducted since 2021 have been made public through the National Defense Committee of the National Assembly .

 

This missile was launched near Jeju and  hit the target set in the sea with an error of 3m .  Even though the weather was very bad with strong waves and winds at the time, the development team was surprised to see such precision . The missile crashed into the target at a speed of over  12,000 km per hour ,  which is  10 times the speed of sound .  Considering the volume, warhead weight ,  speed, and falling distance of the missile ,  it exerts tremendous force similar to that of a small meteorite falling .

 

When a meteorite hits the ground, its kinetic energy sends a shock wave comparable to a nuclear explosion, and North Korea's underground facilities hit by this missile will suffer significant damage due to the shock wave caused by the missile. Of course, since North Korea's underground command facility is dug more than  100 to 150 meters  deep ,  the South Korean military will fire a large amount of Hyunmoo - V concentrated at one point to destroy this facility , and  North Korea's underground bunker will not be able to withstand the accumulated shock waves. It will collapse . From North Korea's perspective, it will be the most feared weapon .

 

The South Korean military's secret weapon, as powerful as nuclear weapons, is pouring out.

 

( Host )   When the North Korean leadership hears this, it sounds like a bolt from the blue, but  what South Korea is preparing is not just the Hyunmoo -V  ?

 

( Lee Il-woo )   In fact, North Korea knows the exact location of the South Korean Army's Army Missile Strategic Command headquarters and subordinate units. In South Korea, the location of the units under the Missile Strategy Command is a military secret ,  but given that a significant number of civilians already know the location of the units, there is no way North Korea would not know the location of these units .

 

Knowing the location means that in case of emergency, North Korea can destroy it through a preemptive strike, and the  South Korean military, which has poor missile defense capabilities, is bound to lose significant missile power in this attack .  Of course, a 'Plan B ' is being prepared for this , and  North Korea will never be able to stop South Korea's 'Plan  B ' .

 

South Korea plans to introduce  three warships named 'joint fireships' by the late 2020s . This warship, which adopts a stealth design and electric propulsion, making it very difficult to detect by radar or sonar, has  a size of about  8,000 tons and  is being designed as a monster equipped with as many as 90  missile launch tubes .

 

This missile launch tube consists of 48 KVLS-Is capable of launching cruise missiles ,   32 KVLS-IIs capable of launching Hyunmoo -IV , a tactical ballistic missile with a range of  500 km , and   15 dedicated launchers capable of launching Hyunmoo -V . ,  it is equipped with a dedicated launch pad that can launch larger ballistic missiles that will be developed in the future ,  and even a large launch pad that can accommodate space launch vehicles .

 

There is no way for North Korea to know where this ship is once it sets sail. A large number of satellites are needed to track warships moving around the sea in real time , but  North Korea does not have such satellites and  will not have the ability to have them in the future . Because it has a stealth design, it is difficult to find even with North Korea's radar or unmanned reconnaissance aircraft , and  because it is very quiet due to its electric propulsion method, it is difficult to track even with assets such as submarines or unmanned underwater vehicles . If these warships rain dozens of ballistic missiles from the waters off Hwanghae Province on Pyongyang, the entire Presidential Palace area will be devastated in  3 to 4 minutes . This means that the North Korean leadership could be completely destroyed with no time to escape .

 

Separately, South Korea  is deploying medium-sized submarines equipped with Hyunmoo-IV-4 submarine-launched ballistic missiles ,  and this number is expected to increase . If North Korea shows signs of provocation and the commander-in-chief of the South Korean military makes a decision, the center of Pyongyang, where the North Korean Workers' Party headquarters and official residence No.  15 are located, will be devastated from the ground to the basement as if hit by dozens of meteorites . This Armed Forces Day event can be evaluated as giving the North Korean leadership a taste of some of the capabilities of the South Korean military, which can exert a strong deterrent against North Korea even without nuclear weapons  .

 

( Host ) Lee Il-Woo, Secretary General of Korea's Independent Defense Network. This is Kim Jin-guk  of RFA  in Washington, USA .