The United States plans to send an additional multiple launch rocket system battalion to South Korea in May to better deter North Korea's artillery threats, U.S. Forces Korea said Saturday.

The U.S. secretary of defense "approved the nine-month rotation of a Multiple Launch Rocket System (MLRS) battalion to South Korea to provide unique counter-fire capabilities supporting its defense," the 8th Army said in a press release.

The first rotational battalion will join the 210th Field Artillery Brigade stationed at Camp Casey in Dongducheon, north of Seoul, near the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) that separates the two Koreas, in May, it said, adding that the roughly 400 soldiers to be deployed from Texas will be "fully manned, trained and equipped."

Currently, the 210th brigade has two MLRS battalions, and the launchers they have there are to be curtailed in accordance with Washington's army force generation rotational plan.

But the new battalion "will have additional launchers, which ultimately leads to the increase in their total number to be assigned to the 210th Brigade," a USFK official said, refusing to elaborate on the exact number of the current troops and launchers on the peninsula.

"The decision will fill a possible security vacuum that can be caused by the reduced number of launchers," the official added.

The system is seen as a strong deterrent to long-range artillery threats posed by North Korea, which has built up its rocket capabilities.

The move came after Seoul and Washington agreed last year to retain the 210th Brigade in its current location until around 2020, when South Korean forces are expected to complete their counter-fire reinforcement plan. The agreement has sparked controversy over a reversal of their earlier plan to move all U.S. troops south of the South Korean capital.

In Washington, Army spokesman Lt. Col. Donald Peters said the deployment is part of an Army-wide transformation aimed at getting all artillery brigades to have three battalions.

"Korea currently only has two of these battalions. So we are simply adding, rotating a unit to give that brigade the same capability and make it look like all the other artillery brigades in the rest of the entire Army," the spokesman told Yonhap News Agency.

The transformation, which began just a few months ago as part of a broader Army reorganization plan, will "give all of our artillery brigades including the one in Korea additional fire power and combat capability," he said. (Yonhap)