Seoul Denies Intelligence Equipment Issues Behind Failure To Track N. Korea's Missile

Seoul Denies Intelligence Equipment Issues Behind Failure to Track N. Korea's Missile

The South Korean Defense Ministry on Monday denied reports that it had failed to detect a North Korean missile launch in April over technical problems with a maritime intelligence-gathering device

MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 17th February, 2020) The South Korean Defense Ministry on Monday denied reports that it had failed to detect a North Korean missile launch in April over technical problems with a maritime intelligence-gathering device.

According to the Joongang Ilbo newspaper, the wiretapping device was out of service for three months, as it had broken down around last February and the broken parts needed to be sent to Canada for repair.

"The report [in oongang Ilbo] is not true. Some components of the cited equipment, not key ones, were repaired, but the time frame was different from that mentioned in the report, and our intelligence-gathering operations have been carried out normally," the ministry's vice spokesperson, Moon Hong-sik, said at a briefing.

The spokesperson also expressed regret over the lack of fact checks by the newspaper.

On April 4, 2019, the South Korean Joint Chiefs of Staff said that Pyongyang had launched several short-range projectiles from the city of Wonsan toward the Sea of Japan. A day later, the North Korean news agency claimed that the country tested large-caliber long-range multiple rocket launchers and tactical guided weapons.