[Edaily editorial] North Korea's ominous expansion of conventional military forces means there must be no gaps in monitoring the country - South Korea

With South Korea under emergency martial law and the country in a state of turmoil for more than half a year due to impeachment and a presidential election, North Korea is showing signs of rapidly strengthening its conventional military capabilities.
Just before the declaration of martial law, North Korea unveiled a new tank, the Cheonma, in November of last year. It then unveiled an early warning and control aircraft for the first time in March of this year, and last month unveiled the new destroyer, the Choi Hyon Ho.
A launch ceremony was held and test firings of cruise and surface-to-air missiles were conducted. Then, on the 17th of this month, a video was released showing a live-fire training exercise with the new air-to-air missile mounted on a fighter jet.
The unveiling of these new weapons signals a rapid technological modernization of North Korea's conventional forces across land, sea and air.
The Cheonma is believed to be equipped with an active protection system that detects and intercepts missile and rocket attacks in advance, but the South Korean Army's main battle tank, the K-2, does not yet have this system.
The unveiling of the early warning and control aircraft means that North Korea now has an aerial reconnaissance asset that it did not possess until now. The Choi Hyon Ho is a 5,000-ton class submarine and is a North Korean
The missile, which is more than three times larger than the largest existing vessel, was fired in a live-fire training session, indicating that North Korea has developed an air-to-air missile ahead of South Korea and is taking steps to deploy it in combat.
In South Korea, a domestic production project to replace existing US and European air-to-air missiles has only just begun this year. North Korea's new weapons development is being carried out mainly with technology transferred from Russia.
The rapprochement between Russia and North Korea, which accelerated after North Korea sent troops to the Russia-Ukraine war, appears to be encouraging North Korea to strengthen its conventional military forces.
Until now, Japan has been at a huge disadvantage compared to South Korea in terms of nuclear weapons. However, we must now see that the gap is rapidly narrowing. Furthermore, the international community has been proactively restraining Japan from actually using nuclear weapons.
It is not easy to defeat a North Korean enemy, but conventional forces are not. A North Korea that wields conventional forces could pose a much greater threat to South Korea than a North Korea that relies solely on nuclear weapons.
South Korea should mobilize its national strength to maintain its superiority in conventional military forces over North Korea. In addition, even during the presidential election, it is important not to relax even for a moment on security issues.
The elections should not be used as an excuse to postpone correcting military discipline that has become lax due to political turmoil. During the election period, the military should not neglect to strengthen its vigilance and ensure discipline.
This should not be done.