'NK provocations must be dealt with sternly'

President Park Geun-hye joins national security officials for a meeting at Cheong Wa Dae, Tuesday. / Yonhap

By Kang Seung-woo

President Park Geun-hye called Tuesday for stern retaliation against any possible provocations from North Korea.

“President Park called on the military to maintain a watertight readiness posture and retaliate against the North, if provoked,” presidential spokesman Min Kyung-wook said in a briefing.

Park held a meeting with top security officials at Cheong Wa Dae ― participants included National Security Office (NSO) head Kim Kwan-jin, Foreign Minister Yun Byung-se, Defense Minister Han Min-koo and National Intelligence Service chief Lee Byung-ho.

Her strong remarks came after the Kim Jong-un regime ramped up hostile rhetoric over border islands, threatening to attack South Korean naval ships intruding into its self-proclaimed territorial waters in the West Sea.

"From this moment, we will make a sighting strike without any prior warning at any warship of the South Korean Navy intruding into the extension of the demarcation line in the West Sea," the command of the KPA in the “Southwestern Sector of the Front” said in a statement, Friday, sent to the NSO.

The North also issued a similar warning to the presidential office Saturday.

Park also accused the reclusive state of destabilizing peace and security in Northeast Asia by developing a submarine-launched ballistic missile (SLBM).

“The United Nations Security Council resolutions ban the North’s use of ballistic missile technology, but the North’s development of an SLBM is posing a serious challenge to the Korean Peninsula and Northeast Asia,” Park was quoted as saying.

North Korea claimed Saturday that it had successfully test-fired an SLBM, and the South’s defense ministry confirmed this ― although it believes that the North used a dummy missile.

Park also added that South Korea’s “Kill Chain” pre-emptive missile destruction system and the Korea Air and Missile Defense (KAMD) ― still in development ― will handle any threat.

She instructed relevant government bodies to seek countermeasures against the North’s provocative actions, while maintaining a strong deterrence on the back of the ROK-U.S. alliance. Park called for cooperation with the international community over the issue, as well.

In the wake of the SLBM launch, Seoul and Washington are cooperating in dealing with the newly-unveiled threat: Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) Chairman Adm. Choi Yun-hee met with U.S. Forces Korea (USFK) Commander Gen. Curtis Scaparrotti to discuss ways to deal with it.

However, the JCS and the USFK declined to elaborate on what Choi and Scaparrotti discussed, saying the talks were confidential.

The meeting between the two military leaders was the second in four days, hinting that Pyongyang’s missile program is emerging as a real threat to the ROK-U.S. Combined Forces Command and they are swiftly seeking ways to properly contain it.

The defense ministry announced on the same day that South Korea plans to beef up its anti-submarine warfare capability including pre-emptive strikes on North Korean submarines capable of firing ballistic missiles.

The decision came because concerns are growing that Seoul cannot fully contain Pyongyang’s SLBMs in the event they are used in a surprise attack. Defense Minister Han Min-koo also admitted to “possible limitations”during a meeting with lawmakers, Monday.

“We will still respond to the SLBMs with a 4D Strategy to detect, defend, disrupt, and destroy them, but we need to reinforce detection and anti-submarine warfare capabilities,” said a military official on condition of anonymity, citing sensitive intelligence.

“In order to track submarines, the military plans to improve its sound navigation and ranging (SONAR) system.”

Some military experts say that the Kill Chain and KAMD designed to counter the North’s land-based intercontinental ballistic missiles, will be unable to cope with SLBMs.

The military official rejected this claim.

“We already have underwater strike assets,” he said, citing the indigenous hongsangeo (red shark) and cheongsangeo (blue shark) torpedoes.