South Korea salvages parts of Soviet-era North Korean missile

Recent North Korean missile tests are pictured in this undated combination photo taken at undisclosed locations and released on November 7, 2022 by North Korea’s Korean Central News Agency (KCNA). KCNA via REUTERS

SEOUL — Debris from a North Korean missile salvaged from South Korean waters were identified as parts of a Soviet-era SA-5 surface-to-air missile, South Korea’s defense ministry said on Tuesday.

Seoul’s Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) said on Monday an underwater probe by a South Korean navy ship had recovered part of a North Korean short-range ballistic missile (SRBM) fired last week.

Military analysis, however, showed the piece, about 3 meters (3.3 yards) long and 2 meters wide, was a part of an SA-5 missile, the defense ministry said, citing its appearance and features.

The ministry strongly condemned the missile launch, calling it a breach of a 2018 inter-Korean military pact banning any activities stoking border tensions.

“This SA-5 missile launch was a clearly deliberate, intentional provocation,” it said in a statement. “The SA-5 also has characteristics of a surface-to-surface missile, and Russia has used similar missiles in Ukraine for surface-to-surface attacks.”

The debris came after North Korea test-fired multiple missiles last week, including a possible failed intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM), protesting against joint air drills by South Korea and the United States.

It was the first time a North Korean ballistic missile had landed near South Korean waters.

North Korea’s military said the launches were simulated strikes on South Korea and the United States, criticizing their exercises as an “dangerous, aggressive war drill.”

The SA-5 is an air defense missile originally designed by the Soviet Union, where it was designated the S-200, to shoot down strategic bombers and other high-altitude targets.

The missile was exported around the world, and is still in service in at least a dozen countries, according to the Center for Strategic and International Studies’ Missile Defense Project.

North Korea took delivery of SA-5 systems in the mid-1980s, according to “The Armed Forces of North Korea: On the Path of Songun”, a 2020 survey by Dutch researchers.

“Two sites equipped with these very long-ranged systems cover the entirety of North Korean airspace as well as a sizable chunk of that of the South,” the researchers wrote.

“However, having been designed to counter strategic aircraft, their use against modern fast jets such as the F-15 and F-16 is questionable to say the least.”

RELATED STORIES

The weakest link? North Korea’s crumbling air force

North Korea dismisses as ‘groundless’ US claims of arms supplies to Russia–state media