South Korea warned yesterday that any future attacks by North Korea would be met by a very strong response, saying that Pyongyang is becoming increasingly bold in its provocations.
South Korea must react to any future attacks by the North with stiffer responses than in the past, South Korean Minister of Defense Kim Kwan-jin said at a regional security conference in Singapore.
“Proactive deterrence means that if there is a provocation, we will respond very strongly,” Kim said. “I don’t think we can be reserved, because they are being bolder and bolder.”
Tensions between the two countries that share the Korean Peninsula have jumped since two deadly attacks blamed on North Korea last year. The North has denied involvement in the sinking of a warship in March last year that killed 46 South Korean sailors and argued that a November artillery barrage that killed four was provoked by South Korean firing drills.
In remarks earlier yesterday at the International Institute for Strategic Studies Shangri-La Dialogue security forum, US Secretary of Defense Robert Gates said North Korea’s development of long-range missiles and nuclear weapons put the country “in the process of becoming a direct threat to the United States.”
Gates said the US was seeking to persuade North Korea to follow international norms through stalled nuclear disarmament talks.
“The United States has no interest in regime change,” Gates said. “We have no interest in destabilizing North Korea.”
North Korea vowed on Friday to launch “retaliatory military actions” against South Korea, days after Seoul said its military had used photos of Pyongyang’s ruling family for target practice.
“From now on,” the North “will launch practical and overall retaliatory military actions to wipe out the group of traitors at a stroke,” a statement from an unidentified spokesman for the general staff of the North’s Korean People’s Army said.
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