South Korea would respond in the event of North Korean provocation

Park Geun-hye

Park Geun-hye, the president of South Korea, “strongly” warned on Monday with a retaliation against any provocation by North Korea. She stated this with the support from the United States, which deployed a stealth fighter F-22, while increasing the strained relations with the regime of Kim Jong-un.

Last Saturday, Pyongyang said it was in a “state of war” with South Korea. Technically, the two Koreas have been in conflict since the war of 1950-1953 was ended with an armistice and not a peace agreement.

The South Korean leader met Monday with senior military leaders and his defense minister. “I think we should make a strong and immediate retaliation, without any other political consideration if (North Korea) stars provocation against our people,” said Park.

For its part, the defence minister, Kim Kwan-jin, pointed out that South Korea would carry out, if necessary, pre-emptive strikes against North Korea’s nuclear and military facilities. “We (…) would quickly carry out what is called an ‘active deterrence’ to neutralize nuclear and ballistic threats from the North.”