New South Korean Defense Minister Shin Won Sik announced Tuesday that will push for the suspension of the 2018 agreement with North Korea on reducing military tensions, because this presupposes a zone prohibiting drone flights near the border and considerably limits the possibility of detecting signs of possible provocations – writes PAP.
Shin was appointed to his post on Saturday by President Yoon Suk-yeol.
Hamas’ surprise attack on Israel has raised concerns in South Korea about similar attacks by North Korea. Shin estimated that the recent Hamas attack would have caused fewer casualties if Israel had conducted round-the-clock surveillance using drones, Yonhap news agency reported.
Hamas fired thousands of rockets and used guerrilla tactics, sending hundreds of armed fighters into Israel by land, sea and air. “The unprecedented scale of the attacks which took Israeli security forces by surprise, raises fears of a similar attack by North Korea against South Korea“- writes the daily Korea Times.
The Yonhap news agency also indicates that “North Korea may soon carry out various provocations, including even a nuclear test, to distract attention from the food crisis hitting the country,” the South’s ministry announced on Tuesday. Korean Defense. The ministry presented the assessment in a policy report for the parliamentary audit amid growing tensions after North Korea amended its constitution late last month to clarify its policy of strengthening its nuclear forces, PAP writes.
State of war
The two Korean states remain officially at war. More than 61 percent residents of South Korea believe that North Korea has “hostile intentions,” one in six people fear their country will be attacked at any time – the results of this year’s survey, reported Tuesday by the daily “Dzoson Ilbo”.
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“The Hamas attack showed that a country that relies heavily on advanced military equipment might not be able to defend itself against a sudden attack,” said an analyst at the Asan Institute for Policy Studies Jang UK, drawing attention to the imperfections of Iron Dome. considered one of the best air defense systems in the world.
Although Iron Dome is known for destroying 90 percent of incoming rockets, it was overwhelmed by a hail of missiles fired by Hamas, some of which managed to pierce, resulting in civilian casualties and infrastructure damage, Korea notes. Times.
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Jang recalled that South Korea was interested in purchasing the Iron Dome from Israel, but ultimately decided to develop its own system, which should be better suited to defense against Korea’s more powerful artillery shells. North.
An analyst at the Shin Jong Wu think tank, Korea Defense and Security Forum, stressed the need to strengthen intelligence capabilities. “It appears that Israeli intelligence has not detected any signs that Hamas is preparing for coordinated land, air and sea strikes, which have clearly been planned for a long time,” he noted.
