The new initiative will be spearheaded by Seoul’s Agency for Defense Development (ADD), which has appointed Hanwha Defense Systems to develop a test product, and the Defense Acquisition Program Administration (DAPA), which will develop the essential technologies for the laser weapon.
"Amid growing worries about possible terror attacks by North Korea's unmanned drones, we are planning to secure a high-precision weapon which can detect, trace and hit a small aircraft," a South Korean defense official told Yonhap News Agency, adding, "Depending on research and development (R&D) results, it will be determined whether the country can produce and deploy its own air defense system. If not, the military plans to import a foreign air-defense system to counter North Korean unmanned aircraft."
Plans for a new defense system come as tensions on the Korean peninsula intensify and threats from Pyongyang increase. Seoul believes that at least five drones operated by the DPRK entered South Korean airspace in August. None of the aircraft were shot down.
Ordinarily, North Korean drones would be shot down by anti-aircraft guns or surface to air missiles.
Recently, Seoul announced that it has developed a special military unit known as Korea Massive Punishment and Retaliation (KPMR), specifically designed to remove North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un in the event of a nuclear attack from Pyongyang. It is to be used in conjunction with South Korea’s homegrown missile defense system, Korean Air and Missile Defense (KAMD), and a preemptive strike system called Kill Chain.
North Korea has stated that it intends to continue nuclear weapons testing, despite international sanctions and recent joint military exercises and flyovers conducted by Seoul and Washington.
In a statement to Korean Central News Agency (KCNA), the DPRK’s Institute of International Studies said, "As long as the US exists on the Earth, a world without nuclear weapons is no more than a daydream and our planet will be in peace only when it is free from its aggression…The more the US increases its nuclear blackmail, the more we will strengthen our iron-fist of nukes by hundreds of thousands of times."
Hong Yong-pyo, South Korea’s Unification Minister, told Yonhap, "Given signs for preparations for a nuclear test, North Korea is likely to make another provocation this year."
