Report: Seoul pursuing ship-fired missiles

Seoul's Ministry of National Defense has drafted a report saying the country needs to deploy US ship-based missile interceptors to complete its low-altitude air-and missile-defense system against Pyongyang, according to a news report on Thursday.

JoongAng Ilbo, a newspaper in the Republic of Korea, cited the internal report drafted in August, which advocates the deployment by Seoul of interceptors known as RIM-161 Standard Missile 3s, or SM-3s.

An unnamed official told the paper that the SM-3s, which are said to be able to target missiles launched from the Democratic People's Republic of Korea fired at a normal angle, would fill a gap in the country's defense systems comprising Patriot and Cheongung interceptors that can target an incoming missile up to 20 kilometers high, and the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense missile shield that covers 40 to 150 kilometers in altitude.