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South Korea's arms procurement agency said on Wednesday that the country plans to develop its own interceptor, dismissing speculation that it may adopt the U.S.- developed missile defense system.
Baek Yun-hyung, spokesman of the Defense Acquisition Program Administration (DAPA), told a press briefing that the defense project committee's meeting chaired earlier by Defense Minister Kim Kwan-jin decided to develop the long-range surface-to-air missile (L-SAM) based on its indigenous technology.
The L-SAM was aimed at enhancing capability to intercept ballistic missiles, possibly launched from the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK), at a higher altitude during the terminal phase, Baek said.
The development will be launched next year, and it will take some 7-8 years to complete the development, said the spokesman, noting that some one trillion won (980 million U.S. dollars) of budget will be spent on the development alone.
The announcement came amid expectations for South Korea to purchase the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD), developed by the U.S.-based Lockheed Martin, designed to intercept missiles at an altitude of 40-150 km.
Chief of the United States Forces Korea (USFK) said in early June that the U.S. was considering the deployment of the THAAD on the Korean peninsula, noting that he recommended the deployment as the commander.
Vice-chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff James Winnefeld said on May 28 that the U.S. military was mulling an additional deployment of missile defense in the Asia-Pacific region to prepare for what he called threats from the DPRK.
