South Korean President Vows Strong, Swift Military Response if North Provokes
In the continuing tit-for-tat exchange of rhetoric between the two Koreas, the president in Seoul has issued her toughest statement yet.
Park Geun-hye on Monday was quoted as telling her defense minister that “There should be a strong response in initial combat without any political consideration," should there be any provocation against South Korea and its people.
The statement comes a day after North Korea's leader laid down what he calls a “new strategic line,” saying that under no circumstances would North Korea's nuclear weapons be a bargaining chip in the political or economic arena.
Kim Jong Un also vowed to expand the nuclear arsenal of the impoverished and isolated state.
North Korea's rubber stamp legislature, the Supreme People's Assembly, was scheduled to meet Monday, but no details have been released by state media.
Pyongyang also makes strong warnings
North Korea has reacted vociferously in recent weeks to annual joint military exercises between South Korea and the United States.
Those drills have included unusual demonstrations of U.S. air power, including simulated long-range bombing runs by B-52 and B-2 strategic bombers.
A pair of U.S. Air Force F-22A Raptor jets from Kadena Air Base on the Japanese island of Okinawa on Sunday flew to Osan Air Base, 65 kilometers south of Seoul. The stealth fighters are participating in the Foal Eagle exercise.
South Korean marines are to stage four exercises together with the U.S. Marine Corps. The war games will include landings, and maneuvering of mechanized units.
In the past weeks, Pyongyang declared the 1953 armistice invalid, vowed a pre-emptive nuclear strike against the U.S. mainland and American Pacific bases, cut a pair of hotlines with the South and then declared a state of war in effect.
The combative rhetoric came after the United Nations Security Council approved additional sanctions on Pyongyang following last December's long-range rocket launch and February's nuclear test - the third by North Korea.
Washington, Seoul express concern
Despite the war talk from Pyongyang, which the White House says it takes seriously, there is no sense of panic in Seoul.
But concern continues to rise, especially about Pyongyang's threat to stop operations at the only joint venture facility with the South.
On Monday, operations were normal at the Kaesong Industrial Complex, just north of the demilitarized zone where hundreds of South Korean managers supervise small factories in which North Korean workers manufacture household goods.
Analysts say an unprecedented closure of the facility would be an ominous sign as it is a significant source of desperately needed hard currency for the North.
Source: Voice of America
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