South Korea plans to build a 4,000-ton nuclear submarine and an “iron dome” in the capital that can defend itself from North Korea’s long-range artillery strikes.
The Ministry of Defence on Monday published its medium-term plans, which promise W 300.7 billion to the military in the coming years, and the defense budget is expected to exceed W60 trillion in 2024 (US$1-1,188W).
The 4,000-ton submarine, much larger than the newly built 3,000-ton submarine, will have to be armed with ballistic missiles and powered by a nuclear reactor. This would possibly require a revision of the nuclear pact with the United States, which prohibits South Korea from using nuclear energy for military purposes.
But Deputy Homeland Security Adviser Kim Hyun-chong told reporters last month that the construction of a nuclear-powered submarine “has nothing to do with the nuclear pact.”
He said a review of U.S. missile guidelines, which removed all restrictions on the use of solid-fuel rockets, will give Seoul greater independence to protect the country and that the government’s plan to build a nuclear-powered submarine is one of them. .
The ministry also hopes to expand an “iron dome” to repel long-range artillery attacks in Seoul and its landscape with the aim of deploying it in the last decade of 2020. This will be an Israeli cellular air defense formula for intercepting incoming artillery shells with missile launchers installed at strategic locations.
North Korea has deployed nearly 1,000 pieces of long-range artillery near the border.