FDD | South Korea’s missile detection failure shows need for cooperation with Japan
Matthew Ha
On Oct. 11, Chong Jong-sup, an opposition member of South Korea’s National Assembly, revealed that South Korean naval vessels failed to detect numerous missiles launched from North Korea between May and September. Seoul’s failure to detect these launches indicates South Korea’s need to reassess not only its ballistic missile defense capabilities, but also its recent decision to terminate an essential bilateral military information-sharing agreement with Japan.
According to Chong, South Korean Navy vessels equipped with the Aegis defense system failed to detect and track North Korean ballistic missile launches on May 4, May 9, July 25, Aug. 2 and Sept. 10. According to the U.S. Congressional Research Service, the Aegis ballistic missile defense system gives vessels the “capability for providing regional defense against short and medium-range ballistic missile attacks.†Currently, the U.S., South Korea and Japan all deploy Aegis-equipped destroyers in the Pacific region.
Adm. Sim Seung-seob, South Korea’s chief of naval operations, explained that the detection failures occurred because “the missile activities were out of Aegis radar range in some cases.†Sim also highlighted the possibility that the Navy failed to update these vessels’ combat readiness systems.
Read more at: https://www.fdd.org/analysis/2019/10/24/south-koreas-missile-detection-failure-shows-need-for-cooperation-with-japan/
Foundation for the Defense of Democracies:
https://www.fdd.org/FDD, there on the home page, it shows H.R. McMaster is among their top experts, I sure wish we had a steady hand like McMaster, Bolton, Mattis, even Rex Tillerson in the White House. Pompeo is a good man but he seems to mainly be carrying out the president''s wishes. Foreign Policy is moderately good really, except for Syria and in turn, I think it also shows, we are being quite lax with North Korea but we are talking to them. I think asserting real progress is being made is dubious.
