North Korea’s recent hypersonic missile test marks a dangerous escalation in its military capabilities, shaking the stability of East Asia and raising grave concerns for global security.
This military advancement is widely seen as the result of Pyongyang’s increasingly strategic partnership with Russia—a relationship forged through a high-stakes quid pro quo.
In return for North Korea’s critical military support to Russia’s war effort in Ukraine, Moscow is reportedly supplying Pyongyang with advanced weapons technology, giving North Korea the tools it needs to fast-track its missile modernization program.
The repercussions of this partnership extend far beyond the Korean Peninsula. By acquiring advanced missile technologies, including hypersonic weapons, North Korea is dramatically enhancing its strike capabilities, posing a direct and immediate threat to South Korea, Japan, and US forces in the region.
The destabilizing effect of this military alignment risks unraveling decades of efforts to maintain regional stability, leaving neighboring powers scrambling to adjust to the shifting balance of power.
South Korea’s defense policymakers must urgently address the growing military capabilities of North Korea. Failure to act decisively risks dragging South Korea into a new era of heightened geopolitical instability, where rogue regimes, emboldened by shared interests, pose an escalating threat to regional security and sovereignty.
Conventional posture
Since the Korean War armistice in 1953, South Korea’s defense posture has prioritized maintaining air dominance across the Korean Peninsula. Central to this strategy has been the continuous acquisition of advanced aircraft, the construction of strategic airbases and unwavering allied support.
This approach has enabled South Korea to operate cutting-edge fighter jets, such as the F-35 stealth fighters, giving it a decisive technological advantage over North Korea’s outdated air force. Key airbases like Osan, Kunsan, and Daegu serve as pivotal hubs for projecting airpower.
The United States has played a critical role in enhancing South Korea’s air capabilities through joint operations, intelligence sharing, and the provision of advanced weaponry.
This air dominance strategy has been effective in deterring North Korean aggression and ensuring rapid response capabilities. However, the rise of hypersonic missile threats has exposed critical vulnerabilities, necessitating urgent adjustments to South Korea’s defense framework.
Hypersonic missiles, with their unmatched speed, maneuverability and precision, pose a game-changing challenge that can quickly destabilize the balance of power.
These missiles travel at speeds exceeding Mach 5, drastically reducing detection and interception times. Their unpredictable flight paths make them extremely difficult to track, while their ability to evade radar and missile defenses renders existing air defense networks insufficient.
Given the proximity of North Korea, hypersonic missiles can strike any location in South Korea within a few minutes, leaving minimal time for countermeasures.
This capability directly threatens South Korea’s airbases, which, due to their limited number, are highly vulnerable to saturation attacks. A successful strike on these critical facilities would cripple South Korea’s air force, undermining its core defense strategy.
North Korea’s successful hypersonic missile tests signal a significant shift in its military doctrine, emphasizing asymmetric capabilities to neutralize South Korea’s technological edge.
While South Korea’s defense focus has largely centered on countering North Korea’s nuclear arsenal, hypersonic missiles now present a more immediate and practical threat.
Unlike nuclear weapons, which serve primarily as deterrents due to their catastrophic consequences, hypersonic missiles are far more likely to be deployed in a conflict.
This emerging threat demands a comprehensive reassessment of South Korea’s defense priorities and a shift toward strategies capable of mitigating the unique dangers posed by hypersonic weapons.
New defense strategy
Given the unprecedented threat posed by hypersonic missiles, South Korea must urgently revamp its defense strategy to ensure greater resilience and adaptability.
Strengthening its security posture requires upgrading missile defense systems, diversifying force structures, reinforcing ground forces, leveraging cyber and space capabilities, and deepening alliances and partnerships to address this fast-evolving danger.
With the balance of power on the Korean Peninsula shifting, South Korea must prioritize the development and deployment of advanced missile defense systems specifically designed to counter hypersonic threats. This should include more effective early warning systems, directed energy weapons and integrated defense networks to bolster its defensive capabilities.
A core element of this new strategy must be upgrading radar and satellite systems to improve detection during the boost phase of a missile’s flight. Currently, South Korea relies on traditional systems such as THAAD (Terminal High Altitude Area Defense) and KAMD (Korea Air and Missile Defense).
While effective against conventional ballistic missiles, these systems may fall short against hypersonic missiles, which travel at lower altitudes, exceed Mach 5 speedsand maneuver unpredictably, making them difficult to track with conventional radar.
At present, South Korea’s early warning network includes the Green Pine radar, AN/TPY-2 radar (part of THAAD), and Sejong the Great-class Aegis destroyers. The Green Pine Block-C radar can detect ballistic missiles at ranges up to 800 kilometers, while the AN/TPY-2 radar offers detection beyond 1,000 kilometers.
The SPY-1D radar aboard Aegis destroyers provides high-resolution tracking and interception for mid-course missile trajectories. However, these systems are also optimized for ballistic missiles with predictable flight paths and may struggle to track hypersonic missiles, which change direction mid-flight and travel at extreme speeds.
Additionally, South Korea’s boost-phase detection capabilities are insufficient for hypersonic threats, which accelerate rapidly after launch, reducing response time for interception. The current radar infrastructure also lacks the ability to detect the unique thermal and electromagnetic signatures of these missiles.
To address these gaps, South Korea must invest in emerging technologies such as advanced laser and electromagnetic systems to neutralize hypersonic missiles in flight.
Strengthening coordination between ground-based and naval defense systems to create layered, real-time protection is equally critical. Without such innovative adaptations, South Korea’s current defense posture will remain increasingly vulnerable to hypersonic missile attacks.
South Korea’s defense strategy’s heavy reliance on a few large airbases is inherently vulnerable, necessitating a shift towards decentralized air assets, mobile launch platforms, and hardened underground facilities.
The major airbases currently supporting South Korea’s air defense include Osan Air Base in Pyeongtaek, housing the US 51st Fighter Wing and South Korean 19th Fighter Wing; Kunsan Air Base on the western coast with the US 8th Fighter Wing; Cheongju Air Base, a key logistics hub with F-15K fighters; Gimhae Air Base in Busan; Daegu Air Base, home to South Korea’s 11th Fighter Wing; and Seosan Air Base, operating F-35A stealth fighters.
Additionally, Camp Humphreys is the largest US military base outside of the United States, supporting air defense operations. Currently, over 70% of South Korea’s air defense assets and manpower are concentrated in these bases.
This reliance on centralized infrastructure poses significant risks from North Korea’s new missile capabilities. To mitigate these risks, South Korea needs to start thinking about establishing smaller, dispersed airfields to reduce vulnerability, develop mobile missile and aircraft platforms for operational flexibility, and construct underground facilities capable of withstanding advanced missile attacks.
These measures would enhance survivability and ensure a more resilient defense posture capable of responding effectively to threats.
Beyond decentralizing air assets, South Korea must prioritize strengthening its ground forces to achieve a more balanced and effective defense strategy. Modernizing tanks, artillery and infantry systems, along with asymmetric warfare training, is essential to counter the new threats.
Ground forces must be equipped for urban combat, counter-insurgency, and irregular warfare to neutralize both conventional and unconventional adversaries. Establishing rapid deployment units with high mobility and flexible response capabilities across the peninsula will further enhance deterrence and ensure operational readiness against evolving threats.
To meet emerging threats, South Korea must further integrate its advanced cyber and space capabilities into its defense strategy to complement traditional military power. The Cyber Operations Command, responsible for cyber defense, must enhance both offensive and defensive measures to disrupt North Korea’s command-and-control systems.
Equally crucial is leveraging the Korea Multipurpose Satellite (KOMPSAT) series and the recently launched military communication satellite ANASIS-II to expand space-based reconnaissance and secure communications. Strengthening these capabilities will significantly enhance South Korea’s situational awareness and ensure a more robust, multi-domain defense posture in the face of evolving threats.
While South Korea’s alliance with the US remains vital, it may not be sufficient to counter emerging threats. South Korea must proactively engage regional partners like Japan, Australia and India to build effective collective security mechanisms.
Deeper involvement in multilateral frameworks and strengthened ties with international organizations are essential to improve intelligence-sharing, technology exchange and defense cooperation. Expanding these partnerships will enhance South Korea’s strategic autonomy and bolster regional stability in the face of evolving security challenges.
Implementation challenges
Revising South Korea’s defense strategy is urgent but faces significant obstacles, including resource constraints, shifting political priorities and widening technological gaps.
Developing next-generation systems and modernizing existing capabilities require substantial investment, which may strain the economy further. Achieving bipartisan support for defense reforms is equally difficult in a polarized political environment.
Additionally, reliance on foreign suppliers to bridge domestic technological limitations risks compromising South Korea’s strategic autonomy. Addressing these challenges demands bold leadership, a long-term vision and innovative solutions to secure a resilient and future-ready defense posture.
Failure to adapt, however, will leave South Korea dangerously exposed to evolving threats. The rapid advancement of hypersonic missile technology has reshaped East Asia’s security dynamics, with North Korea’s growing capability to strike critical infrastructure undermining South Korea’s air superiority doctrine.
In response, South Korea must urgently adopt a multi-dimensional defense strategy that includes advanced missile defense systems, diversified force structures, enhanced ground capabilities and integrated cyber and space assets.
In light of the rapidly shifting balance of power on the Korean Peninsula, South Korea requires decisive, stable and visionary leadership to safeguard its interests against mounting threats.
It is imperative that South Korea’s military and political leadership remain laser-focused on the evolving regional dynamics and avoid becoming entangled in internal political distractions. National security must never be compromised by domestic political agendas or internal turmoil.
The growing threats from across the border demand unwavering vigilance and proactive strategies. South Korea must anticipate and prepare for potential challenges rather than react after the fact. This calls for continuous strengthening of defense capabilities, strategic foresight and a unified national security framework that transcends political divisions.
In this volatile environment, complacency is not an option. South Korea’s leaders must adopt a forward-looking security doctrine, ensuring that the nation remains prepared to counter any threat to its stability.
Maintaining a robust military posture, enhancing intelligence capabilities and deepening alliances with like-minded partners will be essential in safeguarding South Korea’s future.
South Korea’s survival and prosperity hinge on the resilience of its national security architecture. Therefore, preserving the nation’s sovereignty in the face of evolving threats must remain a non-negotiable priority.
Lakhvinder Singh is director of peace and security studies at the Asia Institute in Seoul