South Korea Vows To Beef Up Military Capabilities Amid North Korean Launches - Reports

MOSCOW (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 14th August, 2019) South Korea intends to boost its defense spending over the next years, the country's defense ministry said on Wednesday, local media reported amid alleged repeated missile tests by North Korea.

"The ministry has decided to concentrate on enhancing defense capabilities to make leading responses to security threats from all directions possible, as well as on building and properly managing a smart military based upon state-of-the-art science technologies," the ministry said, as cited by Yonhap news Agency.

The ministry added that South Korea is "superior" to North Korea in "short-range ballistic missiles qualitatively and quantitatively.

"

"We will secure ample interception capabilities against new types of ballistic missiles North Korea has recently test-fired," the ministry said.

The announcement comes amid repeated launches of what Seoul believes to have been short-range missiles by Pyongyang, which have increased in frequency over the past few weeks. North Korea has called the launches a warning against South Korean-US joint military drills, which began on August 5 and will last through August 20.

On Monday, a spokesperson for the South Korean presidential administration said that the South Korean Armed Forces were capable of countering the short-range missiles tested by North Korea.