The military and the Agency for Defense Development have developed a cruise missile with a range of 1,500 km and deployed it warfare-ready.
The August issue of the monthly Chosun magazine published last Saturday quoted a military officer as saying the ADD began research and development for the Hyunmu-3C, a surface-to-surface cruise missile, in 2008, and has started mass-producing it. Hundreds of them will be deployed warfare-ready at an Army unit on the central frontline this year.
So far only the Hyunmu-3A, with a range of 500 km, and the Hyunmu-3B, with 1,000 km, were deployed.
The Hyunmu-3C brings North Korean nuclear and other major facilities like Scud and Rodong missile bases in South Pyongan, Kangwon, and South Hamgyong Provinces within range of the South Korean Army. The Hyunmu-3 series are being mass-produced by LIG Nex1. The Hyunmu-3C is 6 m long and 53-60 cm in diameter and weighs 1.5 tons. It is equipped with an aircraft jet engine.
It can fly at a speed of slightly less than Mach 1, or 1,260 km/h and carries a 450 kg warhead. Its accuracy is within 1-2 m. The missile is said to be equal in terms of functions to the U.S.-developed Tomahawk cruise missile.
Only six other countries -- the U.S., the U.K., France, Russia, China and Israel -- have cruise missiles with a range of more than 500 km, and only three -- the U.S., Russia and Israel -- have missiles with a range of 1,500 km or more.
"Deployment of the Hyunmu-3 missiles will enable precision strikes against North Korea's missile bases and bunkers in the early stages of any war," the officer added. "Until recently the range of South Korean missiles fell far short of major targets in the North, but with the new missiles we've overcome the disadvantage."
The Missile Technology Control Regime was revised in 2001 after the North's test-firing of long-range missiles so that South Korea is now allowed to build cruise missiles of any range with warheads weighing up to 500 kg but is still banned from developing ballistic missiles with a range of more than 300 km.
The Defense Ministry has focused on developing cruise missiles since the 1990s.
Below is information From wikipedia about the missile
Hyunmoo III is a new cruise missile that is to be fielded with the military of Republic of Korea. It is designed by Agency for Defense Development (ADD). The name Hyunmoo (Hangul: 현무) comes from a mythical beast described as the "Guardian of the Northern Sky".
Hyunmoo III bears no resemblance to the previous Hyunmoo SSM, which were improved versions of Nike Hercules surface-to-air missiles that were converted into short-range high-speed surface-to-surface ballistic missiles in response to North Korea's Scud-B and Nodong-1 missile threats. Instead, the new missile's designs are strikingly similar to the United States Tomahawk cruise missile and also the Babur cruise missile of the Pakistan military.
Hyunmoo IIIA, which was nicknamed "Eagle-1" (독수리-1) during the testing, has a range of 500 km, while Hyunmoo IIIB, nicknamed "Eagle-2" (독수리-2), has a range of 1,000 km. Hyunmoo IIIC, or "Eagle-3" (독수리-3), will be capable of striking its target up to 1,500 km away. This is a significant improvement from Hyunmoo I which had a range of 180 km and Hyunmoo II, which only has a range of 300 km, both of which were ballistic and not cruise missiles.
It is powered by a turbofan engine, much like other subsonic cruise missiles of its type, and has a payload of up to 500 kilograms. The guidance systems consist of Inertial Guidance System and Global Positioning System.
The maximum payload of the missile is rated at 500 kilograms of conventional explosive.
King Sejong the Great class destroyers and KSS-III class submarines will be equipped with these missiles inside their Vertical Launching System (K-VLS).
South Korea is barred from producing a non-indigenous ballistic missile that is above a certain payload and range limit in accordance to Missile Technology Control Regime. Therefore, a heavy emphasis was put on for developing long-range cruise missiles by the South Korean government, as there is no restriction of payload amount and range limit set for them. With the introduction of Hyunmoo-III, which also has some advanced systems sometimes found on ICBMs, the Republic of Korea Army created the Missile Command in order to efficiently manage these missiles.
source ://english.chosun.com/site/data/html_dir/2010/07/19/2010071900309.html
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