South Korea’s test launch of a hypersonic weapon last week is an important step in upgrading its defences in case war returns to the peninsula. It’s also a hedge against American betrayal.
Hypersonic manoeuvres
When North Korea fired a number of ballistic missiles into the East Sea on Monday morning, it was the fourth such launch this month and at least the tenth since the beginning of the year. But Monday’s exercise was an especially ostentatious show of force days after South Korea announced the successful test launch of a domestically developed hypersonic glide vehicle.
Moving at more than five times the speed of sound, these missiles can manoeuvre mid-flight, making them hard to intercept and to predict where they will strike. The missile South Korea tested last week is launched with a rocket booster before it separates and glides towards its target without the need for engine power.
This means they can travel great distances at high speed, remaining undetected or dodging interceptors before striking a target the enemy has failed to anticipate. This ability to penetrate North Korea’s missile defences could give South Korea an advantage if war should return to the peninsula.
READ MORE
“We must secure our national security through our own strength,” South Korea’s president, Lee Jae Myung, said after the hypersonic test.
“The government must not rest on today’s success but must further advance the technology so that the hypersonic glide vehicle can establish itself as a robust strategic asset safeguarding our future security.”
The missile launch comes amid tensions between South Korea and the United States, with Washington restricting intelligence sharing with Seoul for the past few months. The trouble started in March when South Korea’s unification minister, Chung Dong-young, publicly mentioned a North Korean uranium enrichment facility.
The location came from intelligence shared by the US, and Washington viewed Chung’s remarks as a unilateral, unauthorised intelligence disclosure. The US in June excluded a representative from South Korea’s National Intelligence Service from a trilateral meeting with Japan on cyber threats from North Korea.
Lee told a cabinet meeting in Seoul this morning that the relationship with Washington was the main axis of South Korea’s diplomacy. But he said that when differences arose they should be dealt with in a way that respects South Korea’s dignity.
“Diplomacy should be pursued in a way that always upholds South Korea’s dignity and safeguards its national interests (while) any submissive or kowtowing stance should be shunned,” he said.
“The guiding principle of South Korea’s diplomacy is pragmatism. The most important thing for South Korea is its national interests.”
Since his return to the White House last year, Donald Trump has said repeatedly that he would like to meet North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, whom he met three times during his first term as president. Trump said on Monday that he might try to meet Kim when he is in Asia next month for a meeting of Asia-Pacific leaders in the Chinese city of Shenzhen.
“That’ll be exciting, won’t it? But I get along with him,” he said.
Kim has shown no interest in returning to talks with Trump after a summit in Hanoi collapsed when the Americans added fresh demands. The North Korean leader, who is in a stronger position since deepening his defence and economic relationship with Russia, has made clear that abandoning his country’s nuclear weapons is out of the question.
The US is lowering its sights and could instead seek a moratorium on testing intercontinental ballistic missiles that could reach the US from North Korea. This would offer no added protection to Pyongyang’s neighbours in South Korea and Japan, Washington’s increasingly put-upon allies in east Asia.
Please let me know what you think and send me your comments, thoughts or suggestions for topics you would like to see covered to denis.globalbriefing@irishtimes.com
