SOUTH KOREA SHOWS
NUKE MIGHT AFTER NORTH KOREA’S TEST
Two days after North Korean Nuclear Test,
South Korea signalled on February 14, 2013 the deployment of a cruise missile
capable of a precision strike on members of Pyongyang high command. The Defence
ministry called in reporters for a special video presentation of the recently
deployed missile being fired from a warpship and a submarine.
"The cruise missile unveiled on February 14, 2013 is a precision guided weapon
that can identify and strike the office window of the North's command headquarters, "ministry spokesman Kim Min-Seok said. It has 'deadly destructive power' that could "restrain the enemy headquarters' activities", Kim added.
South Korea's military has been on a heightened state of alert since Pyongyang first threatened the nuclear test which was conducted on February 12, 2013. It was the
North's third test, following previous detonations in 2006 and 2009, and
seismic data suggested it was significantly more
powerful. The test
appears to have galvanised South Korea into flexing its military muscle. "With this missile, we could hit any facility, equipment or individual target in the North, anywhere," army Major General Ryu Young-Jeo said of the cruise missile.
SOUTH KOREA UNABLE TO TAKE WRAPS OFF NATURE OF NORTH
KOREA’S NUCLEAR TEST
Urgent efforts to find out the type of device
detonated in North Korea's latest nuclear test
appeared to be getting nowhere on February 14, 2013 with South Korean experts unable to detect any radioactive fallout.
The North's test on February 12 triggered an
immediate scramble to collect and analyse any
fallout data that might provide crucial clues about the nature of the test and the progress Pyongyang's nuclear weapons programme has
made.
While seismic data was able to shed light on
the likely yield of the underground test-estimated at 6-7 kilotons-the main
hunt was for elusive radioisotopes that might confirm
the type of missile material that was used.
Experts are particularly keen to establish
whether the North switched from plutonium-used
in the 2006 and 2009 tests-to a new and self-sustaining nuclear weaponisation programme using highly enriched uranium.
The South's Nuclear Safety and Security
Commission said it had analysed eight atmospheric
samples collected by warships and air force planes.
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