By Jung Sung-ki
New Defense Minister Kim Kwan-jin reaffirmed that his military will conduct immediate and strong counterattacks against any further provocation by North Korea.
“If North Korea launches another military attack on our territory and people, we must swiftly and strongly respond with force until they surrender,” Kim said in his inauguration speech at the ministry in Seoul, Saturday. He replaces Kim Tae-young.
“The enemy will keep trying to attack our weak spots and plot new forms of provocation. We must make them realize how steep a price it will have to pay for its actions,” he said, citing the March 26 sinking of the warship Cheonan and the Nov. 23 shelling of Yeonpyeong Island in the West Sea.
“We do not want war, but we must never be afraid of it,” said the new defense chief, recalling that South Korea faces “the worst crisis since the Korean War.”
He pledged efforts to maintain combat readiness at the highest alert level. Specifically, he vowed to improve the education of field commanders, eradicate bureaucratic practices and mannerisms in the military, improve interoperability between the three branches of the armed forces and develop the arms industry as a major growth engine.
During a parliamentary confirmation hearing Friday, Kim said North Korea has an overwhelming edge over South Korea in terms of asymmetrical capability, as the communist regime maintains more than 200,000 commandoes, strategic weapons and attack submarines.
Should the North launch another attack, the South will hit back with air strikes, he said.
“An additional attack by the North using its asymmetrical strengths is the most serious threat as of now,” Kim said.
In comparison, the South has only 20,000 special warfare forces.
The North is also believed to have some 150 missiles, about 2,500 to 5,000 tons of chemical weapon agents and the capability of producing five to eight nuclear weapons with 30 to 40 kilograms of plutonium it is estimated to possess.
The South, has only 50 missiles and no nuclear or chemical weapons.
Right after his inauguration ceremony, the minister visited Yeonpyeong Island to inspect defense readiness there.
Following the North’s unprecedented shelling, a series of artillery and missile systems were deployed to the island near the Northern Limit Line (NLL), the disputed sea border between the two Koreas.
During his visit, the minister said the timing for maritime live-fire drills near the island to be held in coming weeks would be decided after taking relevant circumstances, including weather conditions, into account.