The news has been full of North Korea lately because of their missiles and hydrogen bomb tests. South Korea is trying to decide how best to counter N.K. if it comes to a fight. Some South Koreans have suggested that they should develop their own nuclear arsenal. Other South Koreans want the U.S. to bring tactical nuclear weapons back to S.K. For the moment, S.K. is working on developing conventional weapons that could be used to respond to N.K. threats.
Military analysts say that S.K. appears to be working on a super powerful conventional missile warhead that would be able to destroy any of N.K.’s underground military installations and command bunkers. The S.K. media has adopted the name “frankenmissile” for the new weapon system. The new ground-to-ground ballistic missile would be able to carry a four thousand pound warhead and reach anywhere in N.K.
In 2012, an agreement was signed between the U.S. and S.K. to limit the size of any warhead on any S.K. missile to under one thousand one hundred pounds. Recently, the U.S. president and the S.K. president agreed in principle to cancel the restriction on the maximum size of S.K. warheads. The two leaders spoke by phone and the S.K. president said “It is crucial to come up with powerful and practical measures that can make North Korea realize the impact of its actions.” After the phone call, a spokesperson for the S.K. president said, "Sharing the view that South Korea needs to bolster its defense capabilities to counter North Korea's provocations and threats, the two leaders agreed in principle to revise the missile guidelines to a level that the South Korean side desires."
A few days after the phone conversation between the two leaders, reports surfaced that the new frankenmissile was under development. The development of this missile would give S.K. more independence and flexibility in countering N.K. belligerence. The U.S. military already has “bunker buster” missiles stored in S.K. that have warheads of up to fifty three hundred pounds. Both the S.K. frankenmissile and the U.S. bunker busters are much smaller than the biggest conventional bomb in the U.S. arsenal. This bomb is referred to as “MOAB” which stands for “Mother of All Bombs”. It has a weight of over eighty four hundred pounds. One of these was recently dropped in Afghanistan. Russia claims that it has a conventional bomb four times more powerful than MOAB.
In addition to the development of the frankenmissile, S.K. also has plans for infiltration missions against N.K. leaders and critical military facilities. In the event of an escalation of hostilities on the Peninsula, S.K. would send in highly trained teams to try to basically decapitate N.K. and destroy its ability to carry out attacks on S.K. S.K. representatives have said that they want U.S. special forces to help them train a brigade to carry out such missions against N.K. They hope to have the brigade trained and ready by the end of this year.
South Korean ballistic missile:
