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Seoul and Washington are discussing extending the range of South Korea's missiles to add to the deterrent against North Korea, news reports said Wednesday. The negotiations to revise a defense accord, which imposes a maximum range of 300 kilometers on such missiles, started late last year, the Yonhap news agency and the Chosun Ilbo newspaper said. "The two countries share the view that the range of our missiles should be extended," Yonhap quoted a government source as saying. "It's necessary to extend the range to 1,000 kilometers or more." South Korea believes that the North has 1,000 missiles of various types, many of them pointing at Seoul or other locations in the South. These include medium-range missiles capable of traveling more than 3,000 kilometers and able to hit US bases in Japan and Guam. The North has also test-fired three intercontinental ballistic missiles, most recently in April 2009, when one flew over Japan and landed in the Pacific. During a regional tour last week, US Defense Secretary Robert Gates predicted that the North would develop an intercontinental missile, capable of reaching his country, within five years. AFP |
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