S. Korea against N. Korea’s enactment of nuclear law: ‘We will overwhelm the North’

Concerning North Korea's resort to the tactic of “enacting nuclear force,” including a preemptive nuclear strike, and significantly increasing the intensity of its nuclear threat to South Korea, the South Korean military has responded strongly by even using the term “self-destruction.”

"The South Korean government warns that if North Korea attempts to use nuclear weapons, it will face an overwhelming response from the ROK and the U.S., and the North Korean regime will go down a path of self-destruction," Moon Heung-sik, deputy spokesman for the Ministry of National Defense, said at a briefing on Tuesday. “In close cooperation with the U.S., we will further strengthen the enforcement power of the ROK-U.S. alliance for extended deterrence, and further strengthen deterrence against the North’s nuclear threat, such as the far-reaching expansion of the South Korean-style three-axis system and the establishment of the Strategic Command, so that North Korea will not be able to use its nuclear weapons.”

Military observers believe that at the 3rd round of ROK-U.S. foreign affairs/defense (2+2) bilateral Extended Deterrence Strategy and Consultation Group (EDSCG) to be held in Washington, D.C. on Friday (local time), a plan to strengthen the extended deterrence capability of the U.S. in response to the worsening nuclear provocation by the North will be discussed intently. The EDSCG, held for the first time in four years and eight months since January 2018, is a consultative body that discusses countermeasures against North Korea’s attack on South Korea by mobilizing all available nuclear and conventional nuclear weapons, by regarding it an attack on the U.S. mainland. "The 'five conditions listed for the use of nuclear force' specified by North Korea in its enactment of nuclear force law are threats that it will use nuclear weapons in any given situation,” a South Korean military source said. “(EDSCG) will discuss in detail the deployment method, timing, and scale of U.S. strategic assets for each scenario of North Korea’s nuclear provocation.” At the meeting, plans for the timely deployment of U.S. strategic assets such as strategic bombers and nuclear-powered aircraft carrier strike groups are also expected to be coordinated in the event of North Korea's seventh nuclear test and intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) launch.

In addition, at this meeting, the schedule of the Table Top Exercise (TTX) to be held within this year will be decided in which military countermeasures for each stage of North Korea's nuclear provocation will be devised. The nuclear-powered aircraft carrier Ronald Reagan, under the U.S. Pacific Fleet, 7th Fleet, is expected to arrive in South Korea at the end of this month to conduct joint exercises with the South Korean navy.


Sang-Ho Yun ysh1005@donga.com