軍과 北 엇갈린 주장에 대한 전문가 분석... "北 미사일 대응할 방어체계 軍 갖췄다" 평가

Military experts invited by officials from Seoul's defense ministry... described the discrepancy between claims made by South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff and North Korea... surrounding the North's launch fired on Wednesday... and why the controversy may be futile.
Kim Ji-yeon reports.
At a briefing held at Seoul's defense ministry on Thursday... local military and weapons experts said the difference between rockets and missiles is becoming more obsolete by the day as advancements in technology are narrowing the differences in definition between the two.
Basically the experts say rockets are a general and broader word,... while missiles are a type of rocket.
Up until now, the traditional difference between the two were that missiles have guided systems... that significantly improves their accuracy in hitting targets, further improved with the development of GPS and satellites... while other types of rockets aren't necessarily equipped with guided systems.
Experts say further analysis is needed to verify the North's claim that it has succeeded in test-firing a "guided" rocket system... implying that its multiple rocket launchers are now equipped with weapons that can track and destroy targets accurately.
The experts pointed out that the speed of North Korea's weapon recorded during its flight path provided a crucial hint for South Korean military's assessment... saying it's believed to have been faster than most rockets previously test-fired.
They've added the flight trajectory based on data collected up until now have indicated that they're similar to the Russian Iskander-class short-range "ballistic" missiles... in that the tip flops in a upward direction during its final dive phase.
The experts corroborated the Joint Chiefs of Staff's statement that the South Korean military is capable of intercepting all missiles launched by North Korea so far this year... with the existing Patriot anti-missile system... based upon simulations.
The military experts said the South Korean military had already acquired the missile technology touted by the North during the early 2000s.
Although North Korea could have acquired the technology, the experts said it is still in the test-firing stage... and the technology are not fully operational... due to factors that include lack of infrastructure and resources.
Kim Ji-yeon, Arirang News.