Seoul, June 14: South Korea has promised a strong response to North Korea for the alleged deadly sinking of one of its warships, saying Seoul must deter future provocations.
South Korea has taken measures against North Korea, including resuming propaganda operations, after accusing Pyongyang of torpedoing the South Korean warship Cheonan in March.
“If we fail to sternly respond to North Korea’s wrongdoing in cooperation with the international community and build up solid military readiness, a second and third provocation like the Cheonan incident can occur anytime,” South Korea’s president Lee Myung-Bak said Monday in a televised speech.
Pyongyang has denied any involvement in the sinking of the warship, warning that any retaliation would trigger war.
The General Staff of the Korean People’s Army released a declaration on Saturday, saying that the North Korean armed forces “will launch an all-out military strike” to blow up South Korean loudspeakers installed by Seoul to broadcast cross-border propaganda and may even turn Seoul into a “sea of flame.”
The declaration has been considered as the strongest warning yet against Seoul’s plan to resume anti-Pyongyang broadcasts.
Meanwhile, both Koreas were to make their cases to the UN Security Council in New York on Monday, foreign ministry officials in Seoul say.
Investigators from the South would brief council members on their findings. According to the Korean-language newspaper, the Munhwa Ilbo, the Council may listen to the North’s briefing right after the South.
——-Agencies