SOUTH KOREA’S newly appointed defence minister Kim Kwan-jin said his country would not hesitate to bomb North Korea if it tries a repeat of last week’s attack, with the United States warning of an “immediate threat” from Pyongyang.
“If there are further provocations, we will definitely use aircraft to bomb North Korea . . . we will thoroughly retaliate to ensure that the enemy cannot provoke again,” Mr Kim told a parliamentary meeting in South Korea, when asked how he would respond to another attack after last week’s North Korean bombardment of the front-line island of Yeonpyeong near their disputed border, which killed two South Korean marines and two civilians.
Tensions remain high in the region since the assault, and relations are at a low ebb between the two Koreas, which for nearly 60 years have faced each other in an intense stand-off across one of the world’s most heavily armed borders. They have never signed a formal peace treaty to end the 1950-53 Korean War.
Mr Kim, a retired general appointed by President Lee Myung-bak after his predecessor stepped down for reacting too slowly to last week’s attack and for ignoring warnings by spies that the attack was a possibility.
He made his remarks a day after US secretary of state Hillary Clinton said North Korea threatened the region and the world.
His comments were fiercely hawkish and aimed at showing that President Lee’s administration is capable of an adequate response to military attack from north of the demilitarised zone dividing the two Koreas.
During the shelling of Yeonpyeong, the North fired 170 rounds, compared with 80 returned by South Korea, which is being read as a sign of weakness.
Mr Kim said North Korea’s impoverished position would make it difficult for it to fight a full-scale war. Also he said Kim Jong-il did not have a full mandate because of concerns over his efforts to secure the world’s only communist dynasty by passing on power to his son, Kim Jong-un.
China, the North’s only major ally which this week reiterated its support for its ideological partner, has called for emergency consultations by the six countries taking part in stalled talks about the North’s nuclear programme: the two Koreas, China, Russia, Japan and the United States.
Top US, Japanese and South Korean diplomats are due to meet in Washington on Monday for talks to discuss a strategy to deal with the North. China has expressed hope the talks would come up with useful findings and hopes the three would consider its proposal for emergency talks.