South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Gen. Kim Seung-kyum called for “unsparing” punishment through an “overwhelming” response in the case of a North Korean provocation during a frontline readiness inspection Monday, his office said.
Kim inspected the Army’s 5th Corps headquarters and a general outpost of its 5th Infantry Division amid concerns that the North could engage in provocations in time for the South Korea-U.S. Ulchi Freedom Shield (UFS) military exercise expected to take place next month.
At the 5th Corps, Kim warned that the North may ratchet up the threat and intensity of provocations on the pretext of responding to the allies’ upcoming regular exercise as he directed troops to maintain a robust readiness posture.
“An enemy may launch provocations in ways that are deceptive and sudden to take aim at our military’s weak spots,” Kim said, stressing the military should deal a “decisive” blow to the enemy to make it realize the price of a provocation.
During his visit to the general outpost, he instructed frontline troops to “unsparingly” punish the enemy if it undertakes any provocations.
“I call on you to focus on realistic combat preparations and combat execution training based on the thinking that an enemy provocation is a matter of time, and the enemy will definitely appear before you,” Kim said.
Concerns have persisted that Pyongyang could escalate its saber-rattling in response to the UFS exercise, which it decries as a war rehearsal against it.
It may also aggravate tensions as President Yoon Suk Yeol and his U.S. and Japanese counterparts, Joe Biden and Fumio Kishida, are set to meet at Camp David near Washington on Aug. 18, in a move to reiterate their solidarity against growing North Korean threats, observers said.
Source: Yonhap News Agency