South Korean Army chief said Wednesday that North Korean leader Kim Jong-un is likely to launch provocations to take a strategic initiative in the stagnant inter-Korean relations, calling for measures to counter the potential threat.

“There is a very high chance of provocation by North Korea‘s Kim Jong-un regime to turn the tide and take the lead in the inter-Korean relations,” Gen. Kwon Oh-sung said in a speech to a military forum held in Seoul. “The South Korean Army should prepare for the present danger and also meet various demands.”

The former deputy commander of the S. Korea-U.S. Combined Forces Command said the South Korean Army should gradually replace the aging military equipment with the advanced system and effectively maintain weapons to enhance deterrence capabilities.

More than half of the South Korean Army’s MD 500 helicopters have exceeded their maximum life cycle of 30 years, while operation of old battle tanks has remained idle due to a halt in manufacturing of parts needed for repair, according to the Army.

In March, South Korea chose Boeing AH-64E Apache attack helicopters to replace 36 MD 500 helicopters between 2016 and 2018.

The North Korean People‘s Air Force also operates a sizable number of MD 500D and MD 500E helicopters that it procured in the early 1980s, making it the only military hardware being operated in both Koreas.

In Washington, the chief of U.S. forces in the Pacific said Tuesday he is planning for the possibility that North Korea has an intercontinental ballistic missile that can hit America although it is unclear if they really do.

Adm. Samuel Locklear told reporters that North Korea wants the world to believe that it has such a capability, so he is bound to take that threat seriously.

Over the past 18 months, North Korea has conducted a nuclear test, launched a long-range rocket into space and displayed at a military parade its road mobile KN-08 missile.

If operable, the KN-08 could potentially hit the U.S. But some experts say the missiles on show were mock-ups.

``Whether they are real or not, or whether they have the capability or not, (the) North Korean regime wants us to think they do and so we plan for that‘’ to protect the U.S. and the region, Locklear said.

He said an unpredictable and nuclear-armed North Korea presents the most danger to the world within his area of military command, which stretches from waters off the west coast of the U.S. to the western border of India.

Locklear also stressed the importance of preventing territorial disputes in the Asia-Pacific that could be resolved through international law and compromise from becoming regional flashpoints.

(From news reports)