South Korea has begun deploying the surface-to-surface ballistic missile Hyunmoo-5 to frontline units, strengthening its deterrence strategy against North Korea.
According to Defence Blog, the information was confirmed last Sunday (18) by South Korean military officials. Deployment of the Hyunmoo-5 missiles began in late 2025 and is expected to continue until 2030.
The Hyunmoo-5 is a South Korean surface-to-surface ballistic missile primarily designed for bunker-destroying missions, intended to strike deeply buried underground facilities.
It is capable of carrying a conventional warhead of up to eight tons, making it the heaviest payload ever carried by a South Korean missile system.
Lee Il-woo, director of the Korea Defense Network, stated that the Hyunmoo-5 represents the most powerful missile deployed in South Korea’s Hyunmoo series. From North Korea’s perspective, Lee said the missile poses a serious challenge due to limited interception capabilities.
“The likelihood of North Korea successfully intercepting the Hyunmoo-5 seems very low,” he said. However, Lee emphasized that even the Hyunmoo-5 faces some limitations when targets are deeply buried underground.
It is worth noting that most North Korean strategic bunkers are located more than 100 meters under granite rock. “As a result, it is not realistic to say that conventional weapons alone, including the Hyunmoo-5, can fully destroy these facilities,” Lee stressed.
According to Defence Blog, South Korea also appears to be working on new systems informally known as Hyunmoo-6 and Hyunmoo-7, which are expected to focus on extended range or enhanced anti-bunker capability. For now, no official information has been shared.
Photo: Kim Hong-Ji. This content was created with the help of AI and reviewed by the editorial team.
