By Alex Jensen
SEOUL
South Korea’s defense ministry was both defiant and candid Monday in response to weekend revelations that North Korea had managed to successfully launch a ballistic missile from a submarine.
According to local news agency Yonhap, Defense Minister Han Min-koo vowed to “mercilessly” deal with any provocations.
Han was addressing an emergency security meeting two days after North Korea’s breakthrough was reported by Pyongyang’s state media - the first apparent time the reclusive state had been able to fire a submarine-launched ballistic missile (SLBM).
Speaking to reporters at a routine Monday briefing, ministry spokesperson Kim Min-seok admitted the North’s test was a major concern.
“We judge North Korea’s test-firing of a ballistic missile underwater last week to be very serious and worrying,” Kim said.
He also insisted that South Korea plans to bolster its missile defence, while urging Pyongyang to “immediately cease the development of SLBMs that undermine security on the Korean Peninsula and in Northeast Asia.”
The latter message echoed words out of Washington on Saturday, when the State Department reminded North Korea it is barred from developing ballistic missile technology under United Nations Security Council resolutions.
Seoul also has physical American backing, with nearly 30,000 United States military personnel stationed in South Korea as a legacy of the 1950-53 Korean War - the Koreas technically remain in a state of conflict as they never signed a peace treaty.
