South Korea has started deploying the Hyunmoo-5 ballistic missile to frontline military units, reinforcing its deterrence posture amid continued security threats from North Korea. The missile, widely referred to as the “monster missile,” carries a reported eight- to nine-ton warhead, giving it the potential to strike heavily fortified underground targets.
Designed to neutralize hardened facilities, the Hyunmoo-5 is believed to be capable of penetrating targets buried more than 100 meters underground. Development of the missile reportedly began around 2016, with the program reaching completion in 2023. The weapon was publicly unveiled for the first time during Seoul’s 76th Armed Forces Day parade in October 2024, marking its formal introduction into South Korea’s strategic arsenal.
Deployment of the missile reportedly commenced in late 2025, with full operational rollout expected by 2030. The Hyunmoo-5 plays a central role in South Korea’s three-axis defense system, a strategy designed to detect, preempt, and respond to North Korean missile and nuclear threats through kill chain, missile defense, and massive retaliation capabilities.
However, defense analysts caution against overstating the missile’s effectiveness. Lee Il-woo, director of Korea Defense Network, noted that North Korea’s underground military facilities are often constructed beneath granite bedrock, making them extremely difficult to destroy using conventional weapons. He cited limitations even faced by the US GBU-57 massive ordnance penetrator, which struggled to fully penetrate deeply buried sites in Iran in mid-2025. According to Lee, without nuclear weapons—barred under the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty—South Korea is instead prioritizing advanced conventional strike systems such as the Hyunmoo-5.
