SEOUL, South Korea — Eager citizens waved flags and aged veterans stood at attention as armor rumbled through central Seoul’s concrete canyons, while a line of Apache attack helicopters whirled overhead and formations of fighter jets thundered through the clouds.
But the star of Tuesday’s Armed Forces Day parade was a new surface-to-surface ballistic missile.
The public display in the South Korean capital served as both a reassurance to a citizenry constantly exposed to North Korean leader Kim Jong-un’s threats, as well as a physical advertisement for the country’s arms industry, which has seen orders soar from jittery European nations in the wake of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
Seoul took a leaf out of the playbook followed by Pyongyang — which customarily uses showy military parades in its capital to unveil imposing new arms — by rolling out its latest and biggest missile, the Hyunmoo-5.
Custom-engineered to take out North Korea’s leadership in their defensive bunkers, the surface-to-surface ballistic missile made its debut alongside a brand-new South Korean Strategic Command to oversee the military’s doctrine, its personnel practices, and intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance assets.
“If North Korea attempts to use nuclear weapons, it will face the resolute and overwhelming response of our military and the U.S. alliance,” said South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol, addressing thousands of troops while standing in front of two of the huge new weapons at a military airbase outside Seoul. “That day will be the end of the North Korean regime.”
Unlike last year’s rain-drenched celebration, Tuesday’s Armed Forces Day took place bathed in fine, autumnal weather. After a display of weapons and a presentation before Mr. Yoon and VIPs at a military airfield, troops and equipment paraded through central Seoul.
Many in the throngs lining the streets said they were impressed by what they saw.
“I always had an interest in military stuff, but had never seen a tank roll in front of me. It was amazing, much nimbler than I thought,” said Hwang Doo-jin, an architect who lives in central Seoul, close to the parade route. “And the physique of these soldiers — they were so well built! — proudly marching down the street was fun to watch.”
“I was impressed by the Apaches flying lower than the rooftops, and as an old airplane guy, I loved the F15Ks and F35s,” said Eric Thorpe, an American expatriate who formerly worked in the aerospace industry, who watched the parade with his Korean wife and their daughter. “And of course, it was great to see the U.S. Eighth Army band, which impressed my daughter.”
With the Ukraine War boosting domestic arms exports, the parade showcased a range of South Korea-made, NATO-standard military hardware. Mr. Thorpe noted the K9 155mm self-propelled howitzer, which is being snapped up both by NATO nations such as Estonia, Finland, Norway, Poland and Turkey and by customers farther afield such as Australia and Egypt. He also noted the South Korea-produced T50 jets flown by the Black Eagles display team, another export item.
In one area, however, South Korea still lags behind its hostile authoritarian neighbor north of the DMZ: goose-stepping precision foot drill.
“When it comes to mechanical precision, we all know that the North Korean People’s Army is really, really good, but they don’t seem like a bunch of human beings to me,” said Mr. Hwang. “Countries that are good at precision drill are mostly socialist — Russia, China, North Korea — and so there is something cultural and political about their precision marches.”
He added, “There is no point, except for visual bravado. Foot drills don’t win wars.”
Monster new missile for new Strategic Command
The two huge Hyunmoo-5 ballistic missiles, mounted on equally massive 18-wheel transporter erector launchers, garnered the most attention. Reportedly weighing around 38 tons per piece, speculation is that the missiles will be mounted on “joint-strike-ship” floating platforms as well as land-based launchers.
Missile specialists expressed admiration for the new South Korean missile. Calling it an “almost [intercontinental ballistic-missile] class bizarre ballistic missile,” one arms commentator on X claimed the giant Hyunmoo-5 is “the most destructive conventional missile ever created.”
It was designed to fulfill a specific need.
In recent years there has been considerable agonizing in Seoul defense circles as to whether South Korean can truly depend on its U.S. ally in an actual nuclear showdown with the North: “Would the U.S. put Los Angeles on the line to save Seoul?” is a commonly raised question.
Although Seoul and Washington have created a bilateral “Nuclear Consultative Group” to allay fears, some South Korean power brokers are hedging their bets.
This year, a “Nuclear Latency” forum was established in the National Assembly. The group’s title refers to the idea of boosting civilian nuclear power technologies that could, if necessary, be quickly diverted to make a nuclear bomb.
Analysts say the Hyunmoo-5 appears designed to address these concerns. It is custom-designed, in both doctrinal use and physical engineering, for a country without nuclear arms facing off against one that is atomic-armed.
“It seems to have a 5- to 9-ton warhead but with less than [600 miles] of range, making it the world’s largest short-range missile,” said Yang Uk, a security specialist at Seoul think tank the Asan Institute. “We are not supposed to have nuclear warheads, but we need to have the capability to neutralize the North Korea leadership, which will be hundreds of meters underground, and this missile is designed to penetrate that. It is the South Korean version of the [U.S bunker buster] bomb.”
The new weapon will fall under Seoul’s revamped Strategic Command, which was officially activated Tuesday. The new command, which will coordinate with U.S. nuclear forces, is necessary given the Korean peninsula’s harsh realities, according to Chun In-bum, a retired South Korean general.
“The North Korean threat is evolving and getting stronger and we are finally recognizing that denuclearizing North Korea is not going to happen or is going to take a long, long time,” Mr. Chun said. “I believe South Korea needs to enhance its capabilities, and those capabilities are not just missiles or bombs. It’s the operational side of it and the planning side of it.”
“Tactical” nuclear weapons are commonly defined as being able to strike battlefield targets, while “strategic” weapons can devastate large civilian targets such as industrial complexes and cities. Seoul’s new command should not be seen in this light, Mr. Yang said.
“Our military strategy is not about mass destruction of North Korean cities. Our focus is on precision attacks on the North Korean leadership, not the people,” said Mr. Yang. “So when we say it is a ‘strategic’ command, that means it is taking on strategic targets: [Kim Jong-un], his loyal supporters and their nuclear command and control structures.”
South Korean officials hope the new Strategic Command will benefit from the South Korea-U.S. alliance’s vast range of ultra-high-tech intelligence and surveillance capabilities, which they say offers an advantage over North Korea. That advantage may be eroded as North Korea has beefed up security ties with Russia in recent months.
“That is one area where the Russians are probably providing them [intelligence], satellite imagery and signals electronics,” said Mr. Chun.
Pyongyang is also boosting its domestic arms industries.
“North Korea is trying to get military reconnaissance satellites, and trying to mimic the global Hawk and Reaper drones used by the U.S.,” added Mr. Yang.
Both analysts said Tuesday’s impressive display was lacking in one increasingly critical military technology — drones. The two said they were disappointed to see the parade’s drones mounted on vehicles, rather than flying along the parade route.
“We need to do more, looking at the war in Ukraine,” said Mr. Yang. “We should have seen some integrated operations to show the world we can do it.”
• Andrew Salmon can be reached at asalmon@washingtontimes.com.