It is also capable of deploying a range of warheads, making it a highly versatile weapon.Įarly this morning, the U.S. It can cover all North Korean territory, reach China's and Russia's border areas that are close to South Korea, and covers significant amounts of Japanese territory. The latest version of the missile, the Hyunmoo-2C, has emerged in 2017 and has an even longer range.
The Hyunmoo-2A, the first of the series, was launched in 2008 and was based on a Russian Iskander-E ballistic missile first deployed in the late 80s.Ī year later, South Korea deployed an improved model of the missile named the Hyunmoo-2B, whose propulsion system had been developed to grant the missile extended range. The name Hyunmoo refers to a mythical creature known as the 'Guardian of the Northern Sky', prompting speculation the missile was developed specifically for defense against North Korea. The Hyunmoo-2 is a South-Korean developed short range ballistic missile (SRBM) which is key to South Korea's pre-emptive and retaliatory strike strategies against the North. He also criticised the military for not issuing a notice about the failure while maintaining a media embargo on the joint drills. Hours later, South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff reported that no-one was killed in the explosion and that no civilian infrastructure was affected.īut Kwon Seong-dong, a ruling party lawmaker representing Gangneung, wrote on Facebook that a 'weapons system operated by our blood-like taxpayer money ended up threatening our own people' and called for the military to thoroughly investigate the missile failure. It makes me very nervous and I hope that they can let us know whenever they conduct a training.'Ī video that Kim shared on social media went viral overnight, and other residents chimed in with concerns and fears amid silence from military authorities. 'I've never experienced such an accident in my years having been born and raised here. 'All of a sudden I heard a roar and it made me think something has gone wrong,' said Kim Hee-soo, a nearby resident. 'I looked at the area where they've fired Hyunmoo missiles before and there was flame and smoke and it was a total mess. The explosion and subsequent fire panicked and confused residents of the coastal city, and concerns that it could be a targeted attack from the North only grew as the military and government officials provided no explanation about the explosion for hours.
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Intended as demonstration to deter the North after the pariah state fired a missile over Japan on Tuesday, South Korea early this morning fired a series of Hyunmoo-2C short range ballistic missiles (SRBMs) when one failed shortly after launch and tumbled back towards earth, exploding in a blaze of rocket fuel at a military base in Gangneung. A malfunctioning South Korean ballistic missile blew up as it slammed into the ground Wednesday during a live-fire drill with the United States in an embarrassing failure amid tensions with North Korea.
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