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Sout h Korea unveiled new missiles and advanced military hardware today in its first large-scale parade to mark armed forces day for five years, amid heightened concerns over North Korea' nuclear programme.

Open to public scrutiny were a wide range of high-tech weapons including French portable and Korean-made cruise missiles and the AGM-142, an air-to-surface standoff missile called Popeye.

Popeye, designed by Israel, is the key plank of South Korea's military enhancement programme, which started in 2001.

The first display of Popeye missiles reflects South Korea's efforts to calm growing jitters at the prolonged stand-off over North Korea's nuclear weapons drive.

South Korea had shunned the display of military pomp and firepower in an effort to foster reconciliation with North Korea especially since the two Koreas held a landmark summit in 2000.

The electro-optically guided missile, with a range of more than 100 km, was deployed last year and targets North Korean missiles and key military bases.

Military officials said more Popeyes would be acquired this year and next year.

US and South Korean military experts regard North Korea's missile development as a major threat to regional security on top of its nuclear ambitions.

North Korea has already deployed short range Scuds and Rodongs with a range of 1 300 km, while actively developing longer-range Taepodong missiles with a range of up to 6 000 km, according to South Korean analysts.

President Roh Moo-Hyun said South Korea should enhance self-defense capabilities and build "a war capability honed with cutting-edge technologies".

"The time has come for us to assume the core responsibility for our national defense," he said.

"It is beyond question that as an independent nation, a nation should have enough strength to defend itself on its own".

Roh said South Korea and the US should bolster security ties to maintain the deterrence of war on the peninsula.

But he said Seoul should forge a new alliance with Washington, with South Korean troops leading defense missions.

"Based on these consultations and our self-reliant national defense plans, Korea and the US should develop a new relationship so that (South Korean) armed forces will perform leading defense missions on all fronts and the US and its forces in Korea will help us on that basis".

The US, under a 50-year-old mutual defense treaty, stations 37 000 troops in South Korea, and has carried out key military functions since the end of the 1950-53 Korean War.

Those roles will gradually be handed over to South Korean forces under a realignment plan that will see US troops pulled back from the frontier with North Korea over the next several years.

South Korea's defense spending for 2004 will grow 8,1% year-on-year to 18,9-trillion won ($16,4-billion), marking the biggest increase in seven years. – Sapa-AFP.

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