South Korean President Park Geun-Hye on Friday promised a harsh response to any military provocation by North Korea, after its leader Kim Jong-Un ordered the country’s nuclear arsenal on standby.
South Korean President Park Geun-Hye on Friday promised a harsh response to any military provocation by North Korea, after its leader Kim Jong-Un ordered the country’s nuclear arsenal on standby.
“If North Korea launches a provocation, we must respond with stern punishment to clearly show the price North Korea has to pay and our determination to protect our nation,” Ms Park said in a televised speech at a ceremony for newly commissioned military officers.
Following the adoption late on Wednesday of unprecedentedly harsh sanctions against Pyongyang by the UN Security Council, Ms Park warned of a “fiercer” North Korean backlash than normal.
Hours after the sanctions resolution was unanimously passed, the North fired six short-range rockets into the sea off its eastern coast — an almost routine response to condemnation by the international community.
The rocket launches were personally monitored by Kim Jong-Un who, according to state media, also ordered North Korea’s nuclear warheads to be deployed “on standby so as to be fired at any moment”.
Meanwhile, the Kremlin on Friday called for “restraint” after North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un ordered that the country's nuclear arsenal be readied for pre-emptive use at any time.
“We are following the development of the situation very closely and hope that all the countries in the region and third countries will maintain restraint and equanimity in this difficult situation,” Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said.
Bellicose rhetoric is almost routine for North Korea at times of elevated tensions. Russia — which enjoys friendly ties with the Stalinist regime — backed the tough UN measures against North Korea on Wednesday, after arduous negotiations between the United States and Pyongyang’s main backer China.
The latest resolution ushered in the fifth set of UN sanctions on North Korea since it first tested an atomic device in 2006.
The measures are the toughest sanctions to date on North Korea and ban or restrict exports of coal, iron and other minerals from the isolated country, among other restrictions.
