Seoul to complete ballistic missile development by 2017

South Korea is set to complete the development of its homegrown ballistic missile with a range of 800 km by 2017, officials said on Thursday.

A government official said the state-run Agency for Defence Development (ADD) offered to extend the range of its ballistic missile by 2017 in its five-year development plan. It is for the first time that the country disclosed the timing for the 800-km ballistic missile development, Xinhua news agency reported.

The ADD had submitted its five-year development plan to the government since President Park Geun-hye took office in February 2013, aiming to extend the range of its indigenous ballistic missiles from 300 km in 2013 to 800 km in 2017.

The South Korean military successfully test-fired a ballistic missile with a range of 500 km, named Hyunmoo-2B on June 3.

The development of the country's longer-range ballistic missile based on indigenous technology came after South Korea and the US revised missile guidelines in October 2012.

Multiple military and ADD officials were quoted as saying that the military aimed to complete the development of ballistic missiles by 2017 that can target the entire North Korean territory from anywhere in South Korea.