Military to establish unit against NK nuclear threats

By Lee Min-hyung

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un

The Ministry of National Defense plans to establish a new unit to counter any threats from nuclear and other weapons of mass destruction.

This is viewed as South Korea's apparent recognition of the North as a nuclear state, although the South has never officially said so.

Under the plan, the ministry will set up a division under the Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS). Its primary role will be to take strategic control of military operations in case the North or other countries pose any nuclear threats or stage any acts of fatal provocation with radiological, chemical or biological weapons.

“We reached an internal consensus to streamline our policymaking and strategy-planning processes against possible threats from nuclear and mass-destruction weapons,” defense ministry spokeswoman Choi Hyun-soo said Tuesday. The new unit will be at the center of operational control to remain agile in case such provocations take place, she said.

The ministry also decided to cancel an earlier plan to build the so-called “strategic command” to hold operational control of the ministry's “three-axis” defense system. It refers to South Korea's three major anti-nuclear and missile defense systems against possible provocations from North Korea.

But the three-axis system was recently renamed the “responsive systems against nuclear and other weapons of mass destruction” to reflect ongoing inter-Korean reconciliation.

The establishment of the strategic command was President Moon Jae-in's campaign pledge in 2017 when the two Koreas were not in a mood for peace. But after Moon took office in May that year, he has pushed ahead with policies to reconcile with the North.

Since last year, North Korean leader Kim Jong-un has also shown an interest in peace and reconciliation with the South, stopping any military provocations and holding talks with President Moon and U.S. President Donald Trump.

Reflecting on the peace momentum on the Korean Peninsula, the defense ministry decided last month to stop using provocative military terms against the regime.

In its medium-term strategic planning report released in mid-January, the ministry decided to stop using terms such as “Kill Chain” or “Korea Massive Punishment and Retaliation (KMRP)” in a move to expand the momentum for peace on the peninsula and continue to bring Kim to the dialogue table for the regime's complete denuclearization.

The ministry renamed “Kill Chain” to “strategic target strike.” KMRP has been rephrased into “overwhelming response.”