S. Korea's defense white paper reveals details of N. Korea's military development

북한, 미사일부대 늘리고 특수작전군 강화…2020 국방백서

South Korea's latest defense white paper reveals details of Pyeongyang's military development.
The regime strengthened special warfare forces, expanded military units operating ballistic missiles and carried out trainings using mock-ups of key facilities in Seoul including the presidential office.
Kim Ji-yeon reports.
South Korea's defense ministry's biennial defense "white paper" released on Tuesday... shows North Korea has increased its missile brigades from nine in 2018 to 13... under its strategic force command.
It's operations involve short-range Scud missiles that can hit targets in South Korea, as well as mid-range missiles with ranges of over three-thousand kilometers... putting the U.S. strategic military base in Guam within range.
The paper also mentions the North's special warfare unit... which has been modernized with state-of-the-art equipment ...and has been training using full-size mockups of strategic facilities and locations in South Korea... including a mockup of the Blue House.
"The unit is aimed at targeting the South's rear to cut off the military's supply routes and airports. The unit's modernization shows that the North's basic military strategy and principles will never change, regardless of progress in denuclearization talks with South Korea or the U.S."
As for nuclear stockpiles, the document offered the same evaluation as the 2018 edition... that Pyeongyang possesses 50 kilograms of plutonium, enough for up to 10 nuclear weapons... and its technology to miniaturize a nuclear warhead has reached a considerable level.
The document also compares the quantity and quality of the forces of the two Koreas.
The North's troops are estimated at nearly one-point-three million... more than double that of South Korea's estimated 550-thousand troops.
It shows South Korea is working to complement its shrinking troop numbers under a reform plan to create a smaller but smarter military using state-of-the-art technology... that would be more advanced than the North's.
Kim Ji-yeon, Arirang News.

#NorthKorea #military #defense

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2021-02-02, 22:00 (KST)