South Korea warns North on first strike
Seoul threatens preemptive hit if attack imminent
SEOUL - South Korea would launch a preemptive conventional strike against the North if there were clear indications of an impending nuclear attack, the South Korean defense minister said yesterday in Seoul, even as both countries were holding talks about improvements at their jointly operated industrial park.
The comment by the defense minister, Kim Tae-young, reconfirmed the South Korean military’s stance on the possibility of a nuclear strike by the North, ministry officials said.
But it also marked another exchange of tough talk between two militaries.
On Friday, North Korea’s National Defense Commission threatened a “holy war to blow away’’ the South, denouncing Seoul over unconfirmed news reports that the South has recently drawn up contingency plans for a potential collapse of the government in Pyongyang.
“A nuclear attack from the North would cause too much damage for us to react,’’ Kim said at a security seminar yesterday. “We must detect signs, and if there is a clear sign of attack, we must immediately strike. Unless it’s a case where we would sustain an attack but still could counterattack, we must strike first.’’
Kim made a similar comment in 2008 when he was chairman of South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff. North Korea responded at the time with threats of war, vowing to reduce the South to “ashes.’’ The Koreas are still technically at war because the 1950-53 Korean War ended with a truce and not a formal peace treaty.
Even without nuclear weapons, North Korea’s military remains a serious threat to the South. Seoul, the South’s capital and largest city, is just 30 miles from the North Korean border, within range of the conventional rockets and artillery North Korea deploys there.
South Korea says it has no nuclear weapons in its territory, although both Seoul and Washington have emphasized that the United States keeps the South under its nuclear umbrella.
There was no immediate American response from the military or the embassy in Seoul about Kim’s comments.
Meanwhile, officials from both Koreas continued talks on the future of their joint industrial complex at Kaesong, a North Korean border town north of Seoul.
During the talks, South Korea stressed the need for more efficient border crossings and customs clearance for South Koreans who travel to and from Kaesong. The meetings were “serious and practical,’’ said Chun Hae-sung, a spokesman for the South’s Unification Ministry.
