The new South Korean Defense Minister Shin Won-sik announced this on Tuesday He will push for the suspension of the 2018 agreement with North Korea on reducing military tensions. Because it assumes an exclusion zone for drone flights near the border and significantly limits the possibility of detecting signs of possible provocations – writes PAP.
Shin was appointed to his position on Saturday by President Yoon Suk-yeol.
Hamas’ surprise attack on Israel raised concerns in South Korea about similar attacks by North Korea. Shin estimated that the latest Hamas attack would have caused fewer casualties if Israel had conducted 24-hour surveillance using drones, Yonhap News Agency reported.
Hamas fired thousands of rockets, used guerrilla warfare tactics, and sent hundreds of armed fighters to Israel by land, sea and air. “The unprecedented scale of the attacks caught Israeli security forces by surprise, It raised fears of a similar attack by North Korea on South Korea“, writes the Korea Times.
Yonhap News Agency also reported that “North Korea may soon carry out various provocations, including even a nuclear test, to divert attention from the food crisis within the country,” the South Korean Defense Ministry announced on Tuesday. The ministry made the assessment in a policy report intended for parliamentary review in the face of rising tensions after North Korea changed its constitution late last month to clarify its policy of strengthening its nuclear forces, the People’s Action Party wrote.
State of war
Both Korean states are officially still at war. More than 61 percent of South Korean residents believe that North Korea has “hostile intentions,” a One in six fear that their country will be attacked at any time – The results of this year’s survey were published on Tuesday by the daily newspaper “Dzosun Ilbo”.
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“The Hamas attack showed that a country that relies heavily on advanced military equipment may not be able to defend itself against a surprise attack,” said an analyst from the Asan Jang-uk Institute for Policy Studies, drawing attention to Iron Dome’s shortcomings. It is considered one of the best air defense systems in the world.
Although Iron Dome is known for being shot down by 90 percent, the Korea Times notes that it was overpowered by a barrage of rockets fired by Hamas, some of which successfully penetrated, resulting in civilian casualties and destruction of infrastructure.
See also: North Korea possesses a submarine capable of launching a nuclear attack [ZDJĘCIA]
Jang noted that South Korea was interested in purchasing Iron Dome from Israel, but ultimately decided to develop its own system, which is expected to be more suitable for defending against North Korea’s more powerful artillery shells.
An analyst from the Korea Defense and Security Forum, Shin Jong-woo, stressed the need to strengthen intelligence capabilities. He pointed out, “It appears that the Israeli intelligence services have not detected any indications that Hamas is preparing for coordinated strikes from land, air and sea, which have clearly been planned for a long time.”
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