What is South Korea’s ‘monster missile’, and what does it mean for relations with the North?

The Hyunmoo-5 ‘bunker buster’ missile can reportedly carry an eight-tonne warhead and will be ready for deployment at the end of the year

South Korea has said it will begin deploying its largest ballistic missile yet at the end of the year – a projectile known as the “monster missile” by local media – marking a significant upgrade of its conventional arsenal as tensions rise with nuclear-armed North Korea.

Defence minister Ahn Gyu-back recently told Yonhap News that South Korea must build a “considerable” number of the Hyunmoo-5 missiles in order to “achieve a balance of terror” in the face of the threat posed by the North, and that a next-generation missile with even greater power is needed.