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(2nd LD) N. Korean missiles improved in range: S. Korean admiral
By Sam Kim
SEOUL, Oct. 13 (Yonhap) -- The five short-range missiles North Korea test-fired off its east coast earlier this week may be capable of flying farther than previously estimated, South Korea's top admiral said Tuesday, suggesting that the communist state is continuing to push ahead with its missile development.
The KN-02 missiles "are estimated to have a range between 130km and 160km," Navy Chief of Staff Adm. Jung Ok-keun told lawmakers during a parliamentary inspection of military headquarters.
Defense officials had previously believed KN-02 missiles could fly up to 120km, a range that already threatens a major western South Korean naval port and a key U.S. military hub south of Seoul.
Jung, however, said he has yet to be briefed on exactly where the missiles fired on Monday fell in the East Sea.
"We're still analyzing," he said in response to a question put forth by a member of the parliamentary national security committee.
North Korea launched two missiles in the morning and three in the afternoon into the East Sea on Monday -- its first such tests in three months -- according to South Korean defense officials.
A source in Seoul said Tuesday that North Korea appears to be readying to test-fire more short-range missiles from the west coast.
North Korea has declared a navigation ban on both of its coasts from Oct. 10-20, officials said, adding that the test-firing could be part of a military drill.
In a separate development on Tuesday, North Korea told South Korea that it accepts the proposal to hold talks on resuming reunions of families separated by the Korean War and preventing flash floods of rivers that run across the heavily armed border.
A flash flood last month along a river flowing across the Demilitarized Zone caused by the North's unannounced discharge of a massive amount of water from a border dam killed six South Koreans.
North Korea said it was forced to open floodgates to deal with rising water levels, and promised to notify the South in the future.
Analysts say the latest missile tests are unlikely to stall the widening dialogue on the Korean Peninsula, which is technically at war after the 1950-53 Korean War ended in a truce.
They also said the test-firing is aimed at raising the stakes as North Korea moves to open bilateral talks with the United States over its nuclear weapons program.
The U.S. says it will only agree to such a dialogue if the meeting is certain to lead to the resumption of six-nation denuclearization talks that also include South Korea, China, Russia and Japan.
North Korea is under U.N. sanctions over its missile and nuclear testing. It set off two underground nuclear explosions in the past three years -- one in October 2006 and the other in May this year.
The country is banned by U.N. resolutions from testing ballistic missiles. South Korea believes the North's most advanced long-range missile can fly over 6,700km.
samkim@yna.co.kr
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