The worldwide community must work together to speed up efforts to halt the country’s provocations. “North Korea should take the path of peace and prosperity and realize that nuke tests and missile launches will only lead to self-destruction”.
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Regarding the North’s ballistic missile launch last week, which was an apparent protest against Seoul and Washington’s joint military drill, President Park warned that the survival of the nation and the people will be at risk if Pyongyang manages to load a nuclear warhead on its ballistic missiles.
The regime of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un opposes the planned deployment of the United States’ state-of-the-art Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) missile system in South Korea.
“THAAD is part of the response and so is not undermined by the North Korean SLBM launch, he added”. He also ordered increased efforts to develop nuclear weapons and ways to deliver them, the KCNA reported. Because of the apparent success of the test launch, North Korea dubbed it as the “success of the successes” and declared that the country is now equipped with “nuclear attack capability”. Even if North Korean military forces on land were destroyed, SLBMs could enable the country to retaliate from a submarine. The missile’s range could reach 2,000 kilometers.
Malcolm Cook, a senior fellow at the Institute of Southeast Asian Studies (ISEAS) in Singapore, said the latest development shows a growing sense of fear and frustration in Seoul over the North’s military modernization. Thousands of U.S. soldiers are stationed in South Korea and Japan.
Park’s recent remarks deserve attention.
Facing strong oppositions from residents and politicians, Seoul’s defense ministry said it would reconsider where the USA missile defense battery is sited only within Seongju county, some 250 km southeast of capital Seoul.
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“North Korea’s nuclear and missile threats are no longer an uncertainty, but a serious threat to our national security”.
