JCS chairman says Punggye Village nuclear test site could be potentially be reused  

Posted on : 2019-10-09 17:12 KST Modified on : 2019-10-19 20:29 KST
No restoration activities have been detected at site at present
South Korean Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) Chairman Gen. Park Han-ki takes an oath before a National Assembly National Defense Committee parliamentary audit in Seoul on Oct. 8. (Yonhap News)
South Korean Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) Chairman Gen. Park Han-ki takes an oath before a National Assembly National Defense Committee parliamentary audit in Seoul on Oct. 8. (Yonhap News)

The Punggye Village nuclear test site in Kilju County, North Hamgyong Province, which North Korea dismantled in May 2018, could be reused with some additional work, South Korean Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) Chairman Gen. Park Han-ki said on Oct. 8. North Korea previously used explosions to demolish the second, third, and fourth tunnels at the site, with the first tunnel having previously been shut down following its first nuclear test. But a JCS official said no restoration activities have been detected at the Punggye nuclear test site at present.

While appearing at a National Assembly National Defense Committee parliamentary audit that day at the JCS headquarters, Park was asked by Han Tae-keung, a lawmaker with the Bareunmirae Party, whether North Korea would be capable of reusing the nuclear test site at Punggye Village.

3rd and 4th tunnels could be restored and resused

“The first and second tunnels would be difficult [to restore], but the third and fourth tunnels could be supplemented and used, depending on the circumstances,” Park replied.

He added that the restoration effort to reuse the tunnels would “probably take anywhere from several weeks to months.”

In connection with this, a JCS senior official noted that there had been “no restoration activity” detected from North Korea.

Park was also asked whether North Korea’ Pukguksong-3 submarine-launched ballistic missile (SLBM) was a three-stage model.

“We believe it was two stages,” he replied.

“Some have been calling it ‘three-stage’ because of the warhead separation, but that can’t really be viewed as a stage separation,” he added. His claim was that only one stage separation took place, and that the final stage of the warhead in flight could not be seen as a stage separation.

“We have concluded that the propulsion has increased with the use of solid fuel, and that there may have been improvements with the solid propellant,” Park said.

Stern response in the event of Japan intruding Dokdo airspace

Park was also asked by Choi Jae-sung, a lawmaker with the Democratic Party, about what actions would be taken in the event that a Japanese military aircraft intruded on the airspace over Dokdo.

“We would respond with stern actions within the scope permitted by international law,” Park answered. Noting that Japan has consistently given prior notification whenever it has entered the Korea Air Defense Identification Zone (KADIZ) and has not intruded on Dokdo’s airspace to date, he explained that if such an intrusion did happen, it “would be a situation with a fair level of deliberateness.”

Park was further asked whether follow-up measures beyond warning fire were considered in a July 23 episode in which a Russian A-50 military aircraft twice violated airspace near Dokdo.

“It was considered beforehand,” he replied.

“We determined that the next stages after warning fire – forced landing and firing into intercept – might constitute excessive actions,” he continued, citing the fact that the Russian plane was an early warning and control aircraft and that it never signaled any intent of harmful acts against South Korea. The military’s rules of response for intrusions on airspace include four main stages: warning communications, blocking flights, warning fire, and forced landing/interception fire.

S. Korea, Russia pursue MoU to establish direct telephone line to exchange flight info.

In a previous operational report, the JCS said the South Korean and Russian Air Forces were pursuing a memorandum of understanding (Mou) to establish a direct telephone line to exchange flight information. Discussions toward the creation of a hotline between the two sides’ Air Forces were first held in 2004, with discussions on the MoU text reportedly concluded in November 2018. The JCS said there would be “additional discussions on the schedule and format for the MoU’s signing,” adding that a meeting of the South Korea-Russia joint military commission was scheduled for Oct. 22.

The JCS is also pursuing an expansion of the hotline between the South Korean and Chinese Air Forces.

“At present, there is a hotline being operated between South Korea’s 1st Master Control and Report Center (MCRC) and China’s Northern Theater Command,” it explained.

“We are now in discussions with the Chinese on setting up an additional hotline between the 2nd MCRC and China’s Eastern Theater Command,” it said. The South Korean military reportedly raised the need for an additional hotline with China at the two sides’ 6th working-level air defense discussions in April, with the Chinese site expressing agreement and indicating that it would work to report the matter to the Central Military Commission and gain approval.

Unauthorized KADIZ entries by Chinese and Russian military aircraft have recently become a repeated occurrence. In 2019 alone, China has made 25 unauthorized KADIZ entries, but Russia has made 13. On July 3, a South Korean Air Force fighter was scrambled to fire warning shots after a Russian A-50 military aircraft twice intruded on airspace near Dokdo.

The JCS also announced that a 44th South Korea-US Military Committee Meeting (MCM) would be taking place in Seoul on Nov. 11 for discussions on significant military issues between the two sides. The meeting is to be attended by newly appointed US Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Gen. Mark Milley, who was sworn in on Oct. 1. Major topics at the meeting will reportedly include the recent security situation and military readiness posture, as well as the conditional transfer of wartime operational control (OPCON). Military Committee Meetings are annual meetings between the South Korean and US JCS chairpersons to provide the Allied Commander with strategic directions and operational guidelines for South Korea’s defense.

During the meeting, results are to be reported from an examination conducted during joint command post exercises in August on the South Korean military’s initial operational capability (IOC) for the exercise of OPCON. Other matters that are expected to be discussed at the meeting include the recently emerging issue of an expanded role for the UN Command (UNC) following the OPCON transfer, as well as the early return of US Forces Korea bases to South Korea.

By Yoo Kang-moon, senior staff writer

Please direct comments or questions to [english@hani.co.kr]

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