Park warns that N. Korea's provocations will lead to self-destruction

President Park Geun-hye warned Friday that North Korea's provocations will eventually lead to the regime's self-destruction, as she ramped up pressure on the isolationist regime to give up its nuclear weapons program.

"The Republic of Korea (South Korea) will stay firm despite North Korea's threats and the regime will eventually self-destruct with its consistent provocations," Park said during a ceremony at the national cemetery in the central city of Daejeon,

The ceremony was held to commemorate South Korean military personnel killed in three separate clashes with North Korea in the Yellow Sea area. The clashes include North Korea's torpedoing of the South Korean Navy corvette Cheonan on March 26, 2010, which killed 46 sailors.

The Seoul government designated the fourth Friday of March as a day of remembrance for those that were killed while defending the country in those skirmishes.

Park further renewed her calls on Pyongyang to abandon its nuclear weapons programs and urged it to embrace change.

Pyongyang is currently completely isolated, Park said, citing the toughest U.N. sanctions imposed on North Korea for its fourth nuclear test on Jan. 6 and long-range rocket launch on Feb. 7.

The sanctions call for, among other things, the mandatory inspection of all cargo going into and out of the North, and a ban on the country's exports of coal and other mineral resources to cut off North Korea's access to hard currency.

"North Korea is currently isolated due to the unprecedented sanctions imposed by the international community which means there is a higher chance that the regime may carry out further reckless provocations," Park said.

Tensions have spiked on the divided Korean Peninsula as North Korea has ratcheted up its bellicose rhetoric in response to the massive military drills under way between South Korea and the United States.

Earlier in the day, North Korean leader Kim Jong-un called on the military to be ready to strike government organizations in Seoul. During his inspection of a long-range artillery exercise, Kim said the North's military should be ready to "ruthlessly" destroy South Korea's government bodies. (Yonhap)