Seoul to be alert over Pyongyang's rocket launch during holiday
President Park Geun-hye talks to a vendor during her visit to a traditional market in Incheon, Friday, ahead of Lunar New Year’s Day on Feb. 8, one of the nation’s biggest holiday. / Joint press corps
By Kim Hyo-jin
Cheong Wa Dae is expected to be on high alert during the Lunar New Year long weekend in case North Korea goes through with its plan to launch a rocket.
“President Park Geun-hye will be regularly briefed by the national security office over Pyongyang’s move to launch a long-range rocket,” an official at the presidential office said.
North Korea announced its plan Tuesday to launch a satellite by rocket, which is widely expected to be a ballistic missile test, between Feb. 8 and 25. It overlaps the Lunar New Year long weekend which continues until Feb. 10.
The government said that it will operate an emergency work system during the holiday to monitor the situation.
High-level security officials including the head of the National Security Council Kim Kwan-jin and Kim Kyou-hyun, the senior presidential secretary for foreign affairs and security, will be on constant alert, the official said. Other presidential secretaries will be on duty in turns, he added.
Foreign Minister Yun Byung-se, center, talks with foreign envoys of its key partner countries at the ministry’s building in Seoul, Friday, to push for stronger U.N. sanctions on North Korea over its Jan. 6 nuclear test. From left are Australian Ambassador William Peterson, Japanese Ambassador Koro Bessho, Yun, U.S. Ambassador Mark Lippert and EU Ambassador Gerhard Sabathil. / Yonhap
The Ministry of Unification also said that it has put more personnel in the situation room to monitor North Korea’s moves, according to its spokesman Jeong Joon-hee.
“We’ll be keeping in close contact with a South Korean office in the Gaeseong Industrial Park and local companies there,” he added.
On Thursday, Park visited the national cemetery to pay respect to her father, former President Park Chung-hee and her mother Yuk Young-su, according to her office.
Park has visited their gravesites every year ahead of major holidays including the fall harvest festival Chuseok since her inauguration in 2013.
Park is also expected to mull over measures for the stalled economy-related bills over the holiday.
The government has pushed for the passage of economic and labor reform bills in a bid to revive the sluggish economy, but parties have failed to narrow the gap in their opinion, leaving the bills pending in the National Assembly for months.