South Korea shows off massive weapons to celebrate Armed Forces Day

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South Korea's military on Thursday showed off massive strategic weapons at an event to celebrate the 69th anniversary of Armed Forces Day amid rising tensions on the Korean Peninsula.

Key strategic weapons, including homegrown ballistic missiles, were displayed at the celebration function that was broadcast live and held at the headquarters of the Navy's Second Fleet in Pyeongtaek, 70 km south of Seoul.

President Moon Jae-in and Defense Minister Song Young-moo inspected core military assets of the so-called "three-axis" defense platform, including the Kill Chain, the Korean Air and Missile Defense (KAMD) and the Korea Massive Punishment and Retaliation (KMPR).

The country's indigenous Hyunmoo ballistic missiles were on display. Among them, the Hyunmoo-2C missiles were made public for the first time at the ceremony.

A South Korean soldier walks past Hyunmoo-2 (L) and Hyunmoo-3 ballistic missiles during a photo opportunity ahead of a celebration to mark the 69th anniversary of Korea Armed Forces Day, in Pyeongtaek, South Korea, on September 25, 2017. /Reuters Photo

Hyunmoo ballistic missiles involve Hyunmoo-2A and Hyunmoo-2B which have a range of 300 km and 500 km each as well as Hyunmoo-2C that can fly as far as 800 km and hit the entire territory of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK).

Also on display was Hyunmoo-3 cruise missiles that can travel as far as 1,000 km and have a high striking precision, though they possess less destructive power than Hyunmoo-2 ballistic missiles.

Strategic weapons shown at the ceremony included Taurus air-to-ground missiles that have a range of 500 km and can be loaded onto the country's F-15K fighter jets.

Core military assets of South Korea's own missile defense (MD) system were disclosed, including PAC-2 interceptors and its homegrown medium-range surface-to-air missiles (M-SAM).

The KAMD is a project to develop its indigenous MD system to intercept incoming DPRK missiles at multiple layers. It includes the development of interceptors such as M-SAM and long-range surface-to-air missiles (L-SAM) that can intercept missiles at an altitude of less than 100 km.

South Korean soldiers ride on their armoured vehicle during a photo opportunity ahead of a celebration to mark the 69th anniversary of Korea Armed Forces Day, in Pyeongtaek, South Korea, on September 25, 2017. /Reuters Photo

The Kill Chain is designed to preemptively strike the DPRK's missile launch sites when any sign of the first strike is spotted. The KMPR is a project to preemptively strike the DPRK's leadership and headquarters with massive missile attacks when Pyongyang's first strike sign is detected.

President Moon said in his speech to the ceremony that his government aimed to regain its wartime operational control of South Korean forces from the United States, noting that the early transfer would make the military's capability leap forward.

He said the DPRK will be scared of the South Korean military when it has the wartime command of its own troops.

South Korea handed over its operational command to the US forces after the three-year Korean War broke out in 1950. The country won back its peacetime operational control in 1994.

South Korean paratroopers perform a formation jump during a commemoration ceremony marking South Korea's Armed Forces Day, which will fall on October 1, at the Second Fleet Command of Navy in Pyeongtaek on September 28, 2017. /Reuters Photo

To strengthen its standalone defense capability, Moon said the military should make all-out efforts to rapidly build the "three-axis" defense platform.

Moon said top priority should be put on securing defense capability against the DPRK's nuclear and missile threats, stressing that peace cannot be made and kept without strong defense capability.

The president, however, reiterated his stance that the Korean Peninsula nuclear issue should be resolved peacefully.

"What we pursue is peace and prosperity on the Korean Peninsula for sure," said Moon who described it an absolute obligation of the president defined in the country's constitution.

Moon said nothing is of more precious value than peace to the South Korean people who experienced the horrors of the fratricidal war, adding that nobody could defeat South Koreans' resolve on peace though a security crisis was escalated more than ever on the peninsula.

A South Korean Navy Lynx helicopter fires flares during a commemoration ceremony marking South Korea's Armed Forces Day, which will fall on October 1, at the Second Fleet Command of Navy in Pyeongtaek on September 28, 2017. /Reuters Photo

During the Armed Forces Day ceremony, fighter jets flew over the venue, and special forces made a parachute jump.

It marked the first time that the Armed Forces Day event was celebrated at a naval base as it was usually held at a military complex in the country's central region. The Armed Forces Day originally falls on October 1, but the event was brought forward ahead of the Chueseok holiday next week.

The venue was reportedly chosen to show South Korea's resolve to sternly deal with the DPRK's possible provocations.

The Second Fleet is in charge of defending the country's western waters close to the Northern Limit Line (NLL), the de-facto inter-Korean maritime border where naval skirmishes took place several times between the two Koreas.

The DPRK has never accepted the NLL as it was unilaterally drawn by the US side during the 1950-53 Korean War.

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Source(s): Xinhua News Agency