South Korea has developed an indigenous cruise missile with a range of up to 1,500 kilometers and plans to deploy it along the border with North Korea later this year, a defense official said
Saturday.
The previous version of the Hyunmoo missile had a range of only 1,000km.
Under an agreement with the United States, South Korea is allowed to extend the range of its cruise missiles without restriction as long as their
payload stays under 500 kilograms.
"Mass production of the ground-to-ground Hyunmoo-3C has succeeded after the development began in 2008" at the state-run Agency for Defense
Development, the official said on condition of anonymity.
In a bid to match the threat of North Korea's ballistic missiles, South Korea has been trying to ease a U.S.-supported ban that prevents Seoul from
developing other types of missiles with a range of over 300km and a payload of 500kg.
The U.S. is South Korea's chief ally, and 28,500 U.S. troops are stationed here as a deterrent against North Korea.