SKorea military demands budget rise to deal with NKorea

By Alex Jensen

SEOUL (AA) – South Korea's military needs to spend hundreds of millions of dollars more than anticipated to face up to North Korea next year, according to Defense Minister Han Min-koo on Tuesday.

The military's previously requested budget for 2017 exceeded 40 trillion won ($35 billion) for the first time amid repeated provocations by North Korea.

Pyongyang has celebrated two nuclear tests this year alone, while also defying the United Nations with multiple ballistic missile launches.

South Korea and the United States have already unveiled plans to bolster missile defense at American expense, namely in the form of a Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) battery by the end of next year.

But with North Korea vowing to make THAAD a target, Han told a parliamentary budget meeting he wants 712.4 billion won ($626 million) extra -- albeit without specifying what it would be spent on exactly based on a report by local news agency Yonhap.

"We are requesting the increase so as to quickly put in place the country's ability to counter growing provocations by the North," the minister was quoted as saying.