The Republic of Korea Armed Forces have begun frontline deployment of the Hyunmoo-5 ballistic missile, a major addition to the country’s conventional deterrence capabilities against North Korea. Nicknamed the “monster missile,” the system reportedly features a warhead weighing between eight and nine tons, designed to target deeply buried and reinforced military facilities.
The Hyunmoo-5 missile program, initiated around 2016, reached completion in 2023 and was publicly showcased for the first time at South Korea’s Armed Forces Day parade in October 2024. According to defense sources, the missile is engineered to strike underground targets at depths exceeding 100 meters, addressing one of the most challenging aspects of countering North Korea’s hardened infrastructure.
Initial deployment began in late 2025, with full operational capability expected by the end of the decade. The missile forms a critical component of South Korea’s three-axis defense strategy, which integrates early detection, preemptive strike options, and retaliatory capabilities to counter evolving missile and nuclear threats from Pyongyang.
Despite its formidable specifications, analysts have urged realistic expectations regarding the missile’s effectiveness. Korea Defense Network Director Lee Il-woo emphasized that North Korea’s key facilities are often buried 100 to 150 meters underground beneath solid granite, presenting challenges even for the most advanced bunker-buster munitions. He referenced the limited success of the US GBU-57 penetrator against Iranian underground sites in 2025, noting that complete destruction of such targets would be difficult without nuclear weapons. As a non-nuclear state under the NPT, South Korea is therefore focusing on maximizing its conventional precision-strike capabilities, with the Hyunmoo-5 at the center of that effort.
