A military drill in North Korea. Photo: KCNA/Handout via Reuters
A military drill in North Korea. Photo: KCNA/Handout via Reuters

South Korea’s army told legislators on Thursday that it can quickly destroy the North’s front-line artillery systems in a war, Yonhap reported.

The country’s ground forces, in a report to the National Assembly, outlined a three-tier missile strike concept that would be employed in the early stages of an armed conflict.

The first weapons system to be mobilized, according to the military, is a tactical surface-to-surface missile, called the KTSSM that has been designed as an “artillery killer.”

“KTSSM-I will strike the enemy’s tunnels (containing) the 170-mm self-propelled howitzers and 240-mm multiple-rocket launch systems,” South Korea’s official news agency quoted the report as saying.

Most of the North’s artillery equipment, camouflaged and embedded, is reportedly deployed along the demilitarized zone (DMZ) and the coast of its border islands.

Another missile, called the KTSSM-II, is expected to be used to bomb SCUD missile facilities and 300-mm rocket launchers.

The army also plans to fire Hyunmoo-II ballistic missiles against Pyongyang’s nuke and other WMD systems and supporting units.

The South’s indigenous Hyunmoo-class missiles have a range of up to 800km, while the Hyunmoo-III is a longer-range cruise missile, the report said.

As part of a decapitation strike against the North’s leadership, the army is seeking to acquire a more powerful type of ballistic missile, tentatively named the Hyunmoo-IV.

The army report was made as part of a regular parliamentary audit of the operations of South Korea’s 490,000 troops.

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