South Korea has shown off its most powerful ballistic missile for the first time in an annual military parade which signals the country’s readiness to respond to North Korean threats.
The Hyunmoo-5 – which analysts say is capable of carrying an 8-tonne conventional warhead that can penetrate deep into the earth and destroy underground bunkers in North Korea – was the centrepiece of the Armed Forces Day parade at a Seoul airbase which also included some 5,300 troops, 340 types of military equipment and aircraft flypasts.
A second, smaller parade took place on the streets of Seoul, drawing large crowds.
“If North Korea attempts to use nuclear weapons, it will face the resolute and overwhelming response of our military and the [South Korea]-US alliance,” President Yoon Suk-yeol told thousands of troops who gathered at the base on Tuesday. “That day will be the end of the North Korean regime.”
“The North Korean regime must abandon the delusion that nuclear weapons will protect them,” Yoon said.
Since taking office in 2022, Yoon has revived the tradition of annual military parades as part of his strategy of “peace through strength”, and has backed a stronger military alliance with the United States as well as closer cooperation between Seoul, Washington and Tokyo.
This year’s parade also included a flypast by a United States B-1B strategic bomber for the first time, while the US Eighth Army band and an armoured Stryker brigade also took part.
Dubbed a “monster missile” by South Korean media, the Hyunmoo-5 was tested successfully last year.
The military introduced the weapon as the “ultra high-power Hyunmoo ballistic missile”, which was positioned on two nine-axle transporter-erector-launcher (TEL) vehicles.
The Hyunmoo-5 is categorised as short-range, but if topped with a 1-tonne warhead – typical for ballistic missiles – its range can exceed 5,000km (3,107 miles), according to Yu Yong-weon, a lawmaker on South Korea’s parliamentary defence committee.
Yoon’s office said the missile plays a key role in the country’s “three-axis” defence system aimed at neutralising North Korea’s nuclear provocations, including war plans that call for preemptive strikes if necessary.
Hours before the ceremony, Kim Kang Il, North Korea’s vice defence minister, criticised the B-1B’s planned flypast and also accused Washington of conducting a “reckless military bluff” by recently sending a nuclear-powered submarine to South Korea.
Last month, North Korea released images of its uranium enrichment facility. It has also continued to conduct regular test launches of weapons in defiance of international sanctions.