By Yi Whan-woo
The Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) said Monday it is developing a new strategy to end a war with North Korea in the shortest possible time while minimizing casualties if North Korea wages a full-scale attack.
Speaking at the National Assembly audit of the JCS, its officials said the envisioned strategy will be critical amid the rapid advance of the North’s nuclear program and a growing need to better counter Pyongyang’s asymmetric threats using weapons of mass destruction.
“The concept of our strategy is to end a full-scale war within a month while ensuring the fewest casualties as we can,” a JCS officer said.
The strategy will shift from the South Korean military’s defense-oriented tactics, as it is aimed at striking North Korea’s key facilities in advance if necessary.
To achieve the goal, the military is bolstering efforts to detect possible signs of Pyongyang’s provocations, beef up assets on intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance and improve surgical strike capabilities.
“It will be critical to devastate the enemy’s key targets with precision in all weather-conditions,” the JCS said. “We’ll concentrate on deterrence first, but if it fails, we’ll turn aggressive so that we can win a war as early as possible. It will help us take the initiative, allowing us to penetrate deep inside the enemy zone and create an environment for unification of the two Koreas.”
Shin In-kyun, president of the Korea Defense Network, speculated that the “decapitation strike,” a joint plan between Seoul and Washington to remove North Korean leadership, is anticipated to serve the purpose of the JCS strategy.
He said Seoul’s three-pronged defense system against Pyongyang’s possible nuclear attack will help shape the strategy as well.
The three elements are a Kill Chain preemptive strike system, the Korean Air and Missile Defense (KAMD) and the Korea Massive Punishment and Retaliation (KMPR) plan.
The Kill Chain is aimed at carrying out a preemptive strike against Pyongyang’s nuclear and missile facilities if Seoul is faced with an imminent threat.
KAMD is designed to trace and shoot down incoming North Korean ballistic missiles while KMPR is to punish and retaliate against North Korea if it attacks the South.
Meanwhile, the JCS said it will continue to develop the three-pronged defense system jointly with the Seoul-Washington deterrence plan.
It said it will begin consultation with relevant government organizations including ministries to regularly run evacuation drills for civilians.
It also said the 42nd Military Committee Meeting slated for Oct. 27 in Seoul, will help the allies assess the security situation on the Korean Peninsula, develop a joint counter-strategy against North Korea’s nuclear program and discuss issues on the transfer of wartime operational control of South Korean forces from the U.S.