ESTABLISHMENT OF STRATEGIC COMMAND

[Anchor Lead]

A strategic headquarters that is to jointly operate the South Korean-model three-axis system will be established in 2024. The new headquarters will command and control strategic weapons such as high-powered missiles, submarines and stealth fighter jets operated by the Army, the Navy and the Air Force.

[Pkg]

The South Korean military is operating a three-axis system to counter North Korea's increasingly frequent threats. The plan is to detect and shoot down North Korea's nuclear missile attacks and retaliate massively against the enemy command. The South Korean military decided to newly establish this strategic headquarters that will command the three-axis system by 2024. The new strategic headquarters will likely command the key strategic weapons in the three-axis system, such as the Hyunmoo cruise missiles, the F-35A stealth fighter jets, 3,000-ton-class submarine, Patriot missiles, and reconnaissance satellites. The South Korean Ministry of National Defense said that it will establish a strategic headquarters to effectively command and control the Korean-model of the three-axis system and methodically boost combat power. Since the headquarters will oversee the strategic resources of the Army, the Navy and the Air Force, it will be designated a subordinate body of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. A response center for North Korea's nuclear arsenals and weapons of mass destruction has been operating within the Joint Chiefs of Staff since 2017. Military authorities are likely to coordinate its functions with those of the Army Missile Command and the Air Force's Air Defense Missile Command, which were reorganized in April.

[Soundbite] Kwon Myeong-guk(Former Air Defense Artillery Commander) : "A single commander at a single operation control center analyzes the same data to carry out defense operations by one Command and offensive operations by the other. I think it will be an effective system."

Ways to include cyber combat capacities and space war capabilities in the scope of the command are also in consideration. However, the military leadership must be wary of the concerns about each military branch's self-centered urge to take control of the headquarters operations.