Seoul - South Korea Friday announced plans to spend billions
on sophisticated technology to counter the perceived threat of a
North
Korean nuclear attack.
The defence ministry, reacting to the latest rocket tests by North
Korea, said it would be budgeting a total of 178 trillion won -
around 140 billion dollars.
This would be to protect strategically important buildings from
electromagnetic pulses which could be generated by nuclear
explosions. The spending was part of mid-term defence planning from
2010 to 2014, the ministry said.
An earlier ministry statement Friday said North Korea may have
wanted to directly provoke South Korea with its latest rocket tests.
The launch of four short-range rockets was obviously done with
relations between the two Koreas in mind, ministry spokesman Won Tae
Jae was quoted as saying by the national news agency Yonhap.
'Unless it is a mid-range missile or a longer-range one, we
believe it is aimed at South Korea,' the spokesman said.
In a conflict between the two countries short-range rockets would
be the most useful weapons, he added.
On Thursday, the North Korean military launched four short-range
rockets in the direction of the Sea of Japan within a period of
several hours.
Reports in the South Korea media said government officials in
Seoul believe they were anti-ship rockets with a range of 120-160
kilometres.
The US also condemned the testing of the rockets. State Department
spokesman Ian Kelly said on Thursday in Washington that the launches
were a further provocation.
Following a nuclear test by North Korea in May, the United Nations
Security Council three weeks ago tightened sanctions against North
Korea, requiring ships travelling to and from the country to be
checked for weapons and nuclear materials.
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