The Defense Ministry said it would buy an undisclosed number of ATACMS Block 1A Missiles with a range of 300 kilometers (186 miles), made by Lockheed Martin.

The ministry gave no further details but Yonhap news agency said South Korea would purchase 110 ATACMS Block 1A missiles for depolyment next year near the border with North Korea.

The new missiles can hit most key strategic targets in North Korea such as its main nuclear complex at Yongbyon, 90 kilometers (55 miles) north of Pyongyang, Yonhap said.

The ATACMS Block 1A will be the longest-range missile to be deployed here under a new military accord in 2001 under which South Korea was allowed to possess missiles with a range of up to 300 kilometers.

US military experts agree North Korea's missile development poses a major threat to regional security on top of its nuclear ambitions.

But the United States has restricted South Korea's missile development to avoid an arms race on the Korean peninsula.

North Korea has already deployed short range Scuds and Rodongs with a range of 1,300 kilometers, while actively developing longer-range Taepodong missiles with a range of up to 6,000 kilometers, according to South Korean analysts.

The United States, under a 50-year-old mutual defense treaty, stations 37,000 troops in South Korea, and has performed key military functions since the end of of the 1950-53 Korean War.

Those roles will gradually be reassigned to South Korean forces under a realignment plan that will see US troops pulled back from the frontier with North Korea over the next several years.

SPACE.WIRE