North's latest missile launchers could put half of South in range: NIS

South Korea's spy agency believes the range of the North's latest missile launchers could extend to the central Chungcheong region but expressed doubt that the regime could supply missiles to all of the launchers, lawmakers said Monday.

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un speaks at a ceremony in Pyongyang marking the front-line deployment of what he described as ″a new type of tactical missile launchers″ in this photo released by the regime's state-controlled media on Aug. 5. [YONHAP]

South Korea's spy agency believes the range of the North's latest missile launchers could extend to the central Chungcheong region but expressed doubt that the regime could supply missiles to all of the launchers, lawmakers said Monday.

“Even if North Korea possesses 250 launchers as reported by state media, we have doubts about whether the regime can adequately supply them with missiles,” the National Intelligence Service told lawmakers on the National Assembly’s Intelligence Committee, according to Rep. Lee Seong-kweun of the conservative People Power Party (PPP) and Rep. Park Sun-won of the liberal Democratic Party (DP).

The lawmakers said the spy agency believes the North is producing missiles and other weapons systems to supply Russia and that the regime “may have difficulty supplying their [own] launchers.”

Pyongyang’s state-controlled Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) reported on Aug. 5 that regime leader Kim Jong-un attended a ceremony to celebrate the front-line deployment of 250 transporter erector launchers (TEL), which he described as a “new type of tactical missile launcher.”

Each TEL can fire four missiles at once, according to the KCNA.

The spy agency told lawmakers that the missiles fired by launchers positioned along the border could likely fly around 110 kilometers (68 miles), placing the Chungcheong provinces south of Seoul within range.

According to Park, the NIS expressed concerns “about the possibility that 250 TELs could soon be deployed to the [inter-Korean] border,” and acknowledged the South could face “renewed pressure regarding its defense posture.”

The spy agency also said that Jagang Province “suffered the most material damage” during recent floods that affected regions along the Yalu River, but that Kim probably visited neighboring North Pyongan Province to avoid drawing attention to military facilities concentrated in Jagang.

The DP lawmaker added that the NIS believes Kim visited North Pyongan Province and invited its residents to Pyongyang to “to bolster confidence in the regime.”

Although South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol called on Pyongyang to engage in talks with Seoul in his Liberation Day speech on Aug. 15, his proposal for a working group of officials from both Koreas has been met with silence from the North.

Pyongyang has also not given a response to the recent offer of flood relief from Seoul’s Unification Ministry.

By contrast, the North’s media reported on Aug. 16 that regime leader Kim Jong-un responded to a congratulatory message from Russian President Vladimir Putin marking the 79th anniversary of the end of Japan’s colonial occupation of the Korean Peninsula.

According to the KCNA, Putin promised to continue implementing the strategic partnership treaty he signed with Kim in June, which includes a mutual defense clause.

In his response, Kim noted that the North and Russia “forged and deepened” their ties by fighting together against common enemies and that both countries would develop into “powerful states” in a “new multipolar world,” according to the KCNA.

The NIS also told lawmakers that Moscow offered to send flood relief supplies, which was met with a message of gratitude from Kim.

BY MICHAEL LEE [lee.junhyuk@joongang.co.kr]