In written comments to questions from members of the Senate Armed Services Committee concerning his nomination to replace Gen. B.B. Bell, current director of the Joint Staff at the Pentagon Gen. Walter Sharp lobbied for improved missile defense in South Korea:

North Korea has 13,000 artillery systems and 800 missiles, and South Korea lacks anti-missile defenses adequate to counter them, senators were told Thursday.

U.S. Army Lt. Gen. Walter L. Sharp, nominated to take over the U.S. and U.N. military commands on the peninsula, said upgrades in the PAC-3 Patriot missile defense system have improved protection for critical U.S. facilities in South Korea.

“However, there is a significant shortage of PAC-3 missiles currently available on the peninsula to counter the North Korean missile threat,” Sharp said.

The PAC-3 (Patriot Advanced Capability 3) missile is the ATBM (Anti Theater Ballistic Missile) component of the U.S. Army’s Patriot air defense system, and will complement the existing MIM-104 Patriot missiles. As GI Korea explains, South Korea recently purchased PATRIOT missile defense system from Raytheon, but a commenter notes they are getting older PAC-2 missiles with the system.