Defense Minister Shin Won-sik on Thursday called on troops to conduct “realistic” training to ensure the end of the North Korean regime if it invades the South, his office said, amid an ongoing South Korea-U.S. exercise that began earlier this week.
Shin made the call as he visited a key military bunker operated by the Capital Defense Command in Seoul after the North’s leader Kim Jong-un called for bolstering military drills to contain the “slightest attempt to ignite a war” by his country’s enemies.
The minister dismissed the remark as an attempt to promote unity within the North’s “unstable” internal system and sow division in South Korea, describing the allies’ latest Freedom Shield exercise as defensive.
“Make all-out efforts for realistic practice and training to ensure the end of the Kim Jong-un regime in the shortest period of time if the enemy invades the Republic of Korea,” Shin said, referring to South Korea by its official name.
Pyongyang has long denounced the allies’ military drills as rehear
sals for an invasion against it, with its defense ministry warning Tuesday that Seoul and Washington would pay a “dear price” over the latest exercise set to end next week.
Shin said there is a possibility of the North undertaking various provocations during the exercise period, and instructed officials for immediate retaliation, according to his office.
Separately, Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) Chairman Adm. Kim Myung-soo and U.S. Forces Korea Commander Gen. Paul LaCamera visited Osan Air Base in Pyeongtaek, 60 kilometers south of Seoul, to check troop readiness, according to the JCS.
At the base, Adm. Kim called for efforts to maintain a combined readiness posture to ensure a strong response against North Korea in the event of a provocation, it said.
Source: Yonhap News Agency