'An early warning radar system, Patriot Missiles and a command system will make up a planned Korea Air and Missile Defense, or KAMD, to protect the country from North Korea`s ballistic missiles and nuclear weapons,' the Chosun Ilbo newspaper reported Thursday.

The paper cited a South Korean military source as telling it that the country`s military was 'seeking to build its own missile defense against ballistic and cruise missiles under a plan specified in a directive by the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff issued after Pyongyang`s nuclear test.'

'The classified document lays out the (Joint Chiefs of Staff) chairman`s ideas and is used as a guideline for the plans,' the paper said.

The Chosun Ilbo acknowledged that the KAMD would have 'significant limits in terms of intercept capability' compared with the far more extensive and ambitious systems being built by the United States and Japan. This reflected the financial and industrial realities under which a relatively small nation like South Korea had to operate under, for all its powerful and prosperous economy, the paper said.

The proposed new system therefore will be designed only 'to target low-flying missiles,' the Chosun Ilbo said.

'While the sea-launched SM-3 missile in the U.S.-Japanese missile defense shield has a range of 600 km (360 miles), the PAC-3 South Korea is eyeing in the medium and long term has a range of only 30 km (18 miles),' it said.

However, given the very short range of many, if not most, of North Korea`s ballistic missiles and the proximity of South Korea`s capital and huge conurbation Seoul to the North, focusing on such short range defenses makes strategic sense for South Korean planners.

The paper also noted that the proposed KAMD would not be integrated into the U.S. ballistic missile defense system in the way that Japan and NATO allied nations in Europe may be.

However, 'the two will have to be linked somehow since South Korea will still depend on the U.S. in detecting missiles as well as battle management and for the new command system known as C4I (command, communication, control, computer and intelligence),' the Chosun Ilbo said..

In a previous report on Dec. 15, the Chosun Ilbo reported that South Korea planned 'to deploy so-called bunker busters -- bombs designed to destroy underground nuclear facilities or missile bases -- ahead of schedule and set up a ballistic-missile early warning system to respond to the nuclear and missile threats from North Korea.'

The paper reported that on Dec. 14, the South Korean Defense Ministry had announced that the defense committee of the national assembly, the South Korean parliament, had decided to boost the nation`s emergency budget in response to the growing North Korean threat.

'The money is to buy bunker busters ... and laser-guided bombs ... improved high altitude electromagnetic pulse protection for ground facilities ... ballistic-missile early warning radar ... unmanned aerial vehicles ...and radioactivity detection sets,' the report said.

'The new plan is to introduce hundreds of the GBU-28 precision-guided bombs used in the Gulf War by 2012,' the Chosun Ilbo said. 'The bunker busters could destroy North Korea`s underground missile bases, nuclear facilities and command headquarters by penetrating concrete facilities up to (18 feet) thick and ordinary ground surfaces up to (100 feet) thick. '

The Chosun Ilbo said that the government was almost tripling its budget for joint direct attack munitions, or JDAMs, so-called smart bombs guided by GPS.

'The Hyunmoo and JDAM missiles would be capable of destroying North Korean nuclear facilities and missile bases above ground,' the paper said South Korea also planned to produce far more of its home-made ground-to-ground Hyunmoo missiles.

Back on July 5, we noted in our companion BMD Watch column that South Korea was making efforts to buy SM-2 Block IIIB missiles manufactured by Raytheon Systems At that point, the U.S. Department of Defense`s Defense Security Cooperation Agency had already asked the U.S. Congress to approve the sale of 42 of the missiles to South Korea. In a report filed June 26, it estimated South Korea would spend $111 million on the SM-2 Block IIIB missiles, MK-13 vertical launchers, and related costs such as parts, training, and equipment.

South Korea already carries the SM-2 Block IIIA missile on its Aegis destroyers.

The latest reports make clear that South Korea has now joined Japan and Taiwan, the other two main U.S. allies and democracies in Northeast and East Asia, in concluding that it has no alternative but to commit massive resources to ballistic missile defense against the strategic threats it faces.

When one factors in India`s continued and growing commitment to developing BMD systems in response to the nuclear threat it faces from neighboring Pakistan, the conclusion is inescapable that a BMD arms race is now being waged full out across Asia. The strategic consequences of this in the coming years are certain to be immense.