S. Korea to push for quick deployment of long-range ballistic

South Korea will speed up the development of longer-range missiles capable of striking all of North Korea and deploy them as early as possible, an official on the presidential transition team said Monday.

In October last year, South Korea announced a new missile agreement with the U.S. that allows Seoul to extend the range of its ballistic missiles from 300 kilometers to 800 ㎞, a distance long enough to reach the northern tip of North Korea.

"We will work toward quickly putting in force ballistic missiles with the range of 800 ㎞," said Kim Jang-soo, who has been named to oversee external affairs and North Korean policies for President-elect Park Geun-hye. "Reviewing our security readiness is a pressing matter."

Kim, a former defense minister, was responding to an inquiry about Seoul's course of action in light of Pyongyang's successful launch of a long-range rocket last month. During her presidential campaign, Park had stressed the need for a fast deployment of long-range missiles to ensure active and preemptive deterrence against North Korean military provocations.

Discussing response to Pyongyang's latest rocket launch, Kim called on the international community to cooperate and further isolate North Korea with more sanctions.

The U.N. Security Council is weighing options to punish North Korea for violating U.N. resolutions that ban the North from testing any ballistic missile-related technology. North Korea is already under international sanctions for carrying out two nuclear tests in 2006 and 2009.

(Yonhap News)