Defense chief advocates strike on North Korea
Source: Agencies |
January 21, 2010, Thursday
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SOUTH Korea's defense chief yesterday called for a pre-emptive strike on North Korea if there was clear indication the country was preparing a nuclear attack.
Meanwhile, a state-run think tank predicted a military coup, popular uprising, a massacre or mass defections after North Korean leader Kim Jong Il dies. Kim, who turns 68 next month, is believed to have suffered a stroke in 2008.
North Korea and South Korea have remained locked in a state of war and divided by a heavily fortified border since their three-year conflict ended in a truce, not a peace treaty, in 1953.
The United States, which backed South Korea during the war, has 28,500 troops stationed there to protect the ally against any threat from the North.
Recent reports of a South Korean contingency plan to handle any unrest in North Korea raised Pyongyang's ire, with the North threatening to launch a "sacred nationwide retaliatory battle" and to cease all communication with the South.
If there is confirmation of North Korean intentions to wage a nuclear attack, South Korea should "immediately launch a strike" on the North, Defense Minister Kim Tae-young said in Seoul. Kim made similar remarks in 2008 when he was chairman of South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff - comments which prompted North Korea to threaten to destroy the South.
Unrest in North Korea is a distinct possibility in coming years, the South Korea Institute for National Unification said on its Website.
Kim Jong Il probably won't survive past 2012, the think tank said - though it gave no evidence for its speculation. His death could touch off a military coup or power struggle unless he manages to stabilize succession plans soon, the report said.
The think tank also speculated that Kim could delegate much of his authority to brother-in-law Jang Song Thaek, a member of the all-powerful National Defense Commission, until his youngest son - now in his 20s - is able to take over.
Meanwhile, a state-run think tank predicted a military coup, popular uprising, a massacre or mass defections after North Korean leader Kim Jong Il dies. Kim, who turns 68 next month, is believed to have suffered a stroke in 2008.
North Korea and South Korea have remained locked in a state of war and divided by a heavily fortified border since their three-year conflict ended in a truce, not a peace treaty, in 1953.
The United States, which backed South Korea during the war, has 28,500 troops stationed there to protect the ally against any threat from the North.
Recent reports of a South Korean contingency plan to handle any unrest in North Korea raised Pyongyang's ire, with the North threatening to launch a "sacred nationwide retaliatory battle" and to cease all communication with the South.
If there is confirmation of North Korean intentions to wage a nuclear attack, South Korea should "immediately launch a strike" on the North, Defense Minister Kim Tae-young said in Seoul. Kim made similar remarks in 2008 when he was chairman of South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff - comments which prompted North Korea to threaten to destroy the South.
Unrest in North Korea is a distinct possibility in coming years, the South Korea Institute for National Unification said on its Website.
Kim Jong Il probably won't survive past 2012, the think tank said - though it gave no evidence for its speculation. His death could touch off a military coup or power struggle unless he manages to stabilize succession plans soon, the report said.
The think tank also speculated that Kim could delegate much of his authority to brother-in-law Jang Song Thaek, a member of the all-powerful National Defense Commission, until his youngest son - now in his 20s - is able to take over.
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