President Park Geun-hye on Monday ordered the military to set aside political considerations and strongly and swiftly respond to any provocation by North Korea.

Her instructions came as Pyongyang continued unprecedentedly strong military threats against the South and the U.S. in defiance of the U.N. sanctions against its Feb. 12 nuclear test and joint military drills by Seoul and Washington.

“I view the threats by North Korea at present very seriously,” Park told the members of the Defense Ministry, which delivered its policy briefing.

“If any provocation occurs against our citizens and the Republic of Korea, a strong response should be taken without any other political consideration at an early stage,” Park said.

“I, as the commander in chief of the military, will trust the judgment of the military that directly faces North Korea with regard to unexpected North Korean provocation.”

During the session, the ministry said it would complete a draft for a “tailored deterrence strategy” with the U.S. by July to cope with the North’s nuclear and missile threats.

The strategy is applicable to three major scenarios: the nuclear threat, the imminent use of nuclear weapons and their actual use.

To more effectively deal with threats from North Korea’s weapons of mass destruction, Seoul and Washington would accelerate their efforts to map out the plan and test it in their joint “Ulchi Freedom Guardian” exercise in the summer, the ministry said.

The allies plan to agree on the final version of the deterrence strategy when their defense ministers meet for their annual Security Consultative Meeting in October.

Taking the North Korean nuclear threat seriously following its third atomic test on Feb. 12, the allies have discussed the issue at the South Korea-U.S. Extended Deterrence Policy Committee.

The body was set up in late 2010 after they agreed to step up their commitment to deter the provocative state following two military attacks on the South that year that killed 50 South Koreans.

The ministry also unveiled plans to enhance its cyber warfare capabilities in response to growing threats including those from North Korea.

The ministry said that the plan to retake wartime operational control from Washington by December 2015 would be implemented as scheduled.

The ministry also reported to Park that it would pick a contractor for a multibillion-dollar fighter jet project within the first half of this year.

Under the “FX” project, Seoul plans to purchase a high-end fleet of 60 combat aircraft and start deploying them in 2016.

By Lee Joo-hee and Song Sang-ho
(jhl@heraldcorp.com) (sshluck@heraldcorp.com)