Missile shield by 2012

North Korea has short-range Scuds (pictured) and Rodongs with a range of 1,300km, while actively developing longer-range Taepodong missiles that could reach the United States. -- PHOTO: REUTERS

SEOUL - SOUTH Korea plans to complete its own missile defence system against North Korea in three years, officials said on Sunday.

Officials at Seoul's defence ministry said that South Korea was pushing to establish its own air defence unit, exclusively to detect and intercept North Korean ballistic missiles, by 2012. The unit, to cost a total of 300 billion won (S$322 million), will complete an air and missile defence project which has been pushed for since 2006, they said.

Seoul plans to buy new radars which can detect objects up to 1,000km away for the new system, which will put the North's missiles under close watch around the clock, they added. The two Koreas are still technically at war since the 1950-1953 Korean conflict ended in a fragile armistice.

North Korea has short-range Scuds and Rodongs with a range of 1,300km, while actively developing longer-range Taepodong missiles that could reach the United States. Scuds and Rodongs put all of South Korea within range.

In recent weeks, Pyongyang has apparently started assembling its longest-range Taepondong-2 missile and it could be ready for launch late this month, according to media reports in Seoul and Washington. The Taepondong-2 could theoretically reach Alaska but blew up after 40 seconds when it was first test-fired in July 2006.

South Korea has warned that any launch would bring the North increased isolation and added sanctions. The United States said it would be provocative. The North has responded furiously to South Korean President Lee Myung-Bak, who took office in February last year and who has linked major economic aid to progress in the northern communist neighbour's nuclear disarmament.

Late last month, the North said it had scrapped all peace accords with the South, including a 1991 agreement that recognised the Yellow Sea border as an interim frontier off the western coast. The announcement sparked fears of another inter-Korean clash, as the sea border was the scene of bloody naval battles in 1999 and 2002.

Local media have also reported the number of North Korean guns, mostly 100-mm artillery pieces, sited on western islands and along the coast in the area increased by 30 percent last year from 2007. The Munhwa Daily quoted an unidentified official of the Joint Chiefs of Staff in Seoul as saying on Saturday that the South would bolster its defence on islands near disputed waters in the Yellow Sea. -- AFP