The story appears on

Page A10

April 2, 2013

GET this page in PDF

Free for subscribers

View shopping cart

Related News

HomeWorld

Park takes North Korea threats 'very seriously'

SOUTH Korea's new president yesterday promised a strong military response to any North Korean provocation after Pyongyang announced that the two countries were now in a state of war.

President Park Geun-hye's warning came as the US announced it had deployed stealth fighters to South Korea as part of an ongoing joint military exercise.

In a meeting with senior military officials and Defense Minister Kim Kwan-jin, Park said she took the near-daily stream of bellicose threats emanating from the North over the past month "very seriously."

"I believe that we should make a strong and immediate retaliation without any other political considerations if (North Korea) stages any provocation against our people," she said.

Park, a conservative who had advocated cautious engagement with North Korea during her election campaign, has been compelled to take a more hardline posture after assuming office in February.

The defense minister made it clear that South Korea would carry out pre-emptive strikes against North Korea's nuclear and missile facilities in the event of hostilities breaking out.

"We will ... establish a so-called 'active deterrence' aimed at neutralizing North Korea's nuclear and missile threats quickly," Kim said.

The US military said yesterday it had deployed F-22 Raptor stealth fighters to South Korea as part of the ongoing "Foal Eagle" military exercise.


 

Copyright 漏 1999- Shanghai Daily. All rights reserved.Preferably viewed with Internet Explorer 8 or newer browsers.

娌叕缃戝畨澶 31010602000204鍙

Email this to your friend