Recent reports suggest that North Korean leader Kim Jong-un was briefed on plans for special forces to infiltrate South Korea’s Army Missile Strategy Command during an inspection of North Korean special forces.
Analysts interpret this as a sign of Kim’s heightened sensitivity to the potential threat posed by South Korea’s retaliatory strike capabilities, which could jeopardize his regime in the event of a conflict.
On September 20, NK News reported that Kim Jong-un inspected a special operations base on September 11, where he reviewed the training of special forces tasked with penetrating South Korea’s Missile Strategy Command.
The review came to light through images released by the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) on September 13. One of the photos shows a North Korean military officer pointing to a satellite image of the command on a screen, while Kim Jong-un, standing with his hands behind his back, listens intently.
According to NK News, despite the poor image quality, the outlines of roads and buildings were clearly visible. A comparison with satellite images from sources like Google Earth suggests that the image shown during Kim’s briefing was that of South Korea’s Missile Strategy Command located in Wonju, Gangwon Province.
The satellite image is believed to have been captured between late 2020 and mid-2021, ruling out the possibility that it came from North Korea’s military reconnaissance satellite launched in November last year, according to NK News.
Kim Jong-un also observed live-fire drills and hand-to-hand combat training by special forces during the same visit. Analysts speculate that the focus on the Missile Strategy Command suggests it could be a priority target for North Korean special forces in the event of war.
This further indicates North Korea’s unease over the strategic importance of the command, which operates the Hyunmoo series of missiles—central to South Korea’s Kill Chain, Korea Massive Punishment and Retaliation (KMPR), and other key defense systems.
The Missile Strategy Command’s Hyunmoo missiles are critical to South Korea’s KMPR strategy, which is designed to deliver massive retaliation in response to a North Korean attack. The latest Hyunmoo missiles are known to have warheads weighing more than 8 tons, making them some of the most powerful conventional missiles in the world. These missiles are capable of penetrating bunkers located more than 100 meters underground, potentially targeting Kim Jong-un’s hideouts with devastating accuracy.
Due to the command’s critical role, South Korea’s military often highlights the Hyunmoo missile when signaling heightened warnings to the North Korean regime. A notable example occurred on June 11, when a South Korean-U.S. Nuclear Consultative Group (NCG) delegation visited the Missile Strategy Command and took a commemorative photo in front of a Hyunmoo missile.
The South Korean Ministry of National Defense explained that the visit was intended to showcase South Korea’s advanced conventional capabilities, which contribute to the joint U.S.-South Korea nuclear-conventional integration (CNI) plan to deter North Korea’s nuclear and missile threats.
Last year, on September 26, South Korea unveiled the Hyunmoo missile to the public for the first time during the Armed Forces Day parade, a move intended to instill fear in the North Korean regime.
A military official at the time explained that despite the missile’s secretive development, the decision to reveal it was a bold message directed at North Korea. The military is now considering unveiling the upgraded Hyunmoo-4 or Hyunmoo-5, high-powered surface-to-surface ballistic missiles, during this year’s Armed Forces Day on October 1.
BY KEUNPYUNG LEE, YOUNGNAM KIM [lee.keunpyung@joongang.co.kr]
