Photo : YONHAP News
Anchor: President Yoon Suk Yeol says North Korea will pay a “larger price” in the event of a reckless provocation. Yoon issued the warning at a naval base on the western coast, marking this year’s Yellow Sea Defense Day commemorating South Korean soldiers who sacrificed their lives in naval battles in the Yellow Sea against North Korea in recent decades.
Kim Bum-soo has more.
Report: President Yoon Suk Yeol says North Korea is “absolutely mistaken” if it thinks that it can force South Korea to surrender through threats and provocations.
The president made the remark during an event marking the Ninth Yellow Sea Defense Day on Friday, commemorating the 55 servicemen who sacrificed their lives defending the Yellow Sea in three North Korean military provocations in 2002 and 2010.
[Sound bite: President Yoon Suk Yeol (Korean-English)]
“North Korea is absolutely mistaken if it believes that we will succumb to provocations and threats. Our military will maintain an ironclad readiness and firmly defend the Republic of Korea’s freedom and the people’s safety by responding immediately and overwhelmingly to any provocation.”
During the memorial ceremony at the Navy’s 2nd Fleet Command in Pyeongtaek, 60 kilometers south of Seoul, Yoon said his government will strengthen military cooperation with the U.S. and Japan to ensure that the North pays a greater price in the event of a reckless attack.
Yoon’s remarks came as North Korea is ignoring the de facto maritime border, the Northern Limit Line in the Yellow Sea, heightening tensions in the area.
Referring to the 2002 inter-Korean skirmish near Yeonpyeong Island, the North’s 2010 torpedo sinking of the South Korean warship Cheonan and its shelling of Yeonpyeong Island the same year, Yoon said such provocations cannot be tolerated by any justification.
The memorial is observed every year on the fourth Friday of March.
Kim Bum-soo, KBS World Radio News.
