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South Korea urgently needs to secure a missile defense capability, and a mid- to long-term plan is in place to do so, Cha Young-gu, the director of the Defense Ministry's policy planning bureau, said Tuesday.
In a phone interview with a KBS 1 radio program, Cha said that South Korea could not go without a missile defense system, because it is threatened by North Korea's long-range artillery and missiles. This is the first time a high government official has confirmed the existence of the nation's missile defense plan.
Cha said that the United States had not asked South Korea to join its missile defense system. He explained that U.S. bases on the peninsula already have Patriot missiles.
Cha also denied reports that the USFK had demanded that South Korea purchase Patriot missiles and Apache helicopters.
(Yoo Yong-won, kysu@chosun.com )
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