South Korea is interested in fielding the Aegis SM-3 capability, but it seems to me it would make more sense for them to field a land-based Aegis Ashore that could be installed to provide persistent missile defense in the middle of the country:
Aegis SM-3 firing
Seoul needs to deploy U.S. ship-based missile interceptors known as RIM-161 Standard Missile 3s, or SM-3s, to complete its low-altitude air and missile defense system against North Korea, according to an internal report by South Korea’s Ministry of National Defense that was exclusively acquired by the JoongAng Ilbo Monday.
Drafted in August and handed over by Bareun Party Rep. Kim Young-woo, a member on the parliamentary National Defense Committee, the report acknowledges that South Korea’s current low-altitude defense system, also known as the Korea Air and Missile Defense, or KAMD, is unable to intercept some North Korean missiles if they were to fly across the border.
A local government source who spoke on the condition of anonymity said the military wrote the report in order to start policy discussions on how Seoul could deploy the SM-3s, which are said to be able to target any North Korean missile fired from a normal angle, filling in a gap left by the country’s current defense systems, mainly comprising the Patriot and Cheongung interceptors that can target an incoming missile up to 20 kilometers (12 miles) high, and the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (Thaad) missile shield, which covers 40 to 150 kilometers in altitude.
An SM-3 has a range of up to 400 kilometers and can travel as far as 700 kilometers away.
The ministry stressed that the defense system would especially come in handy if North Korea carries out an electromagnetic pulse (EMP) attack, as it recently threatened.
Under that scenario, the ministry said it was likely North Korea would blast its warhead-triggered EMP about 60 to 80 kilometers above ground, which can effectively be targeted by an SM-3. [Joong Ang Ilbo]
The ROK Navy thinks a nuclear powered submarine is a way to counter North Korea’s nuclear threat:
South Korea has started a feasibility review for the building of a nuclear-powered submarine amid North Korea’s evolving nuclear and missile threats, government sources said Sunday.
The Navy has commissioned a private institute to find ways to resolve international restrictions in building a nuclear submarine with the results to come out as early as the end of this year, sources said.
The government and the military are likely to finalize whether to construct a nuclear-powered sub based on the study.
The move comes as North Korea has been advancing its nuclear and missile capability by firing two intercontinental ballistic missiles and submarine-launched ballistic missiles (SLBMs). [Yonhap]
British peace activist Lindis Percy (L) speaks during a protest rally in front of a naval base on the southernmost resort island of Jeju on July 7, 2017. Defying strong opposition from villagers and conservationists, South Korea completed the base in February 2016. (Yonhap)
Navy recruits toss an assistant instructor into the air in a ceremony to mark the completion of their training at a boot camp in Jinhae on the south coast on July 7, 2017. (Photo courtesy of the Navy) (Yonhap)
Here is another example of strategic messaging against North Korea that the Canadians are ready to stand with the ROK if needed:
Battleships from the Incheon Naval Sector Defense Command take part in a drill near Incheon and Ijak Island on June 14 and 15 to mark the month of national defense and veterans’ welfare. / Yonhap
South Korea said Monday it will hold a combined live-fire naval exercise with the United States and Canada this week in its southern waters.
Hosted by South Korea’s Maritime Task Flotilla Seven (MTF7), the three-day training exercise will be staged in waters near Jeju Island from Friday, according to the Navy.
It will involve five South Korean warships, including the Aegis cruiser DDG-992 Yulgok Yii, P-3C Orion maritime surveillance aircraft and Lynx multi-role planes as well as the USS Dewey (DDG-105), an Arleigh Burke-class guided missile destroyer from the U.S. Navy, and MH-60R helicopters.
Two major Canadian frigates — Winnipeg and Ottawa — and SH-3 choppers will also take part in the practice.
The three sides plan to hold various drills on interdiction, air defense, anti-submarine operations and ballistic missile detection, along with live-fire training, said the Navy. [Korea Times]
The ROK Naval Captain is claiming that the sex was consensual, but regardless the Captain shouldn’t be sleeping with a junior officer in the first place. However, I am not sure if the ROK military has any guidelines against such behavior; if not it should:
A female Navy lieutenant, under the purview of the Navy’s headquarters at the Gyeryongdae compound, was found dead in her home on 5:40 p.m. Wednesday.
While the naval military police view the incident as a suicide, they arrested a male navy captain under allegations of having sexually assaulted the lieutenant the night before.
Her colleagues attempted to reach her by phone after noting her absence in the workplace.
When they went to her home and found she had apparently hanged herself, they contacted military police.
Near her body was a memo saying, “I guess I’m leaving empty-handed like this,” and “By tomorrow, I won’t be a person of this world.”
“There are no signs of forced entry,” military police said.
“She told me she was raped by a superior,” a friend told her family, who then told police.
The military police arrested a naval captain who was at the domicile.
According to naval military police, the two officers drank into the night at a departmental dinner. Police suspect the captain raped her after she lost consciousness.
“I can’t remember clearly cause I was drunk,” he said, adding that while they had sex, he maintains it was consensual. [Joong Ang Ilbo]
Here is the latest on what is going on with the USS Carl Vinson otherwise known in the media as “Trump’s Armada”:
USS Carl Vinson
The USS Carl Vinson, a U.S. aircraft carrier, on Saturday started a joint naval drill with the South Korean Navy in the East Sea amid heightened tensions from North Korea’s failed ballistic missile launch earlier in the morning, defense officials here said.
“South Korea and U.S. strike forces began a drill in the East Sea from 6 p.m. today against the backdrop of the current security situation,” the South Korean Navy said.
No specific schedule for the rendezvous was released to the media yet, but the exercise is expected to continue until sometime next week.
At the core of the naval exercise lies the missile warning informational link exercise (LINKEX) that monitors, traces and intercepts any intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBM) from North Korea. [Yonhap]
Singer, actor and now soldier, Army Cpl. Lee Seung-ki (L) sings the chorus of a song during a ceremony at the National Cemetery in the central city of Daejeon on March 24, 2017, to commemorate South Korean soldiers killed in three major clashes with North Korea in the Yellow Sea. The government has designated the fourth Friday of March as the commemoration day for the fallen soldiers in the clashes, including the North’s torpedoing of the South Korean Navy corvette Cheonan in 2010, which killed 46 sailors. (Yonhap)
