By Jung Sung-ki
Staff Reporter
South Korean armed forces were placed on a higher state of alert Monday following North Korea's alleged nuclear test.
The Joint Chiefs of Staff ordered troops near the inter-Korean land and sea borders to bolster security levels.
The Ministry of National Defense activated a crisis management team after the South Korean and U.S. geological agencies reported North Korea's second underground nuclear test, which the communist state said was successful.
The explosion produced a 4.7-magnitude tremor at 9:54 a.m. at the northeastern site of the North's first nuclear test in October 2006. The 2006 test registered 3.58 on the Richter scale.
Against this backdrop, South Korean and U.S. military authorities were closely analyzing whether or not the second test was successful or proved North Korea's improved nuclear capability, ministry officials said.
``A bigger seismic wave means bigger explosive power,'' a ministry official said on condition of anonymity. ``Given the first test in 2006 had a yield equivalent of 1 kiloton, the latest test might have been 2 to 3 kilotons.'' A kiloton is equivalent to 1,000 tons of TNT.
The atomic bombs dropped over Japan's Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945 were equivalent to 15 kilotons and 20 kilotons, respectively.
An intelligence source said the second test appeared to have used more plutonium.
``We're closely analyzing if the North has improved its nuclear weapons capability,'' he said, adding there might be a possibility that North Korea carried out the second test in an effort to secure the technology to downsize a nuclear warhead so that it can be mounted onto a long-range missile.
In a related development, South Korea's military is planning to acquire the necessary weapons systems to deter North Korea's lingering nuclear and missile threats in a more effective way.
Under a revised defense reform package to be unveiled next month, the ministry plans to increase the procurement numbers of precision-guided Joint Direct Attack Munitions (JDAM) and air-launched cruise missiles, according to sources.
It aims to buy 1,400 JDAMs by 2013 to bring its total number to 4,551, they said.
The JDAM is a guidance tail kit that converts existing unguided free-fall bombs into accurate, adverse weather munitions. Carried by advanced fighter jets, including F-15Ks, the bomb has a range of 24 kilometers and can strike within 13 meters of its target. It can penetrate up to 2.4 meters of concrete.
Earlier this month, it was unveiled that the South Korean Air Force was seeking to equip some of its KF-16 fleet with JDAMs.
In addition, the South plans to acquire about 270 joint air-to-surface, standoff (cruise) missiles (JASSM) by 2011. The JASSM, developed by U.S. Lockheed Martin, is an autonomous, long-range, air-to-ground, precision missile designed to destroy high-value, fixed and mobile targets.
Germany's TAURUS KEPD 350 missile is a viable candidate for the acquisition program, sources say, adding that the development of nuclear-powered attack submarines is expected to be considered as an option to counter the North's nuclear threat.