[THE INVESTOR] President Park Geun-hye is now shifting her policy focus to security to appeal to her conservative supporters soon after a contentious decision on constructing a new international airport.

The president has made a series of public statements that warned of additional North Korean provocations and called for a “watertight” readiness posture.

Her statements come after the government scrapped a plan to build a new airport in the country’s northeastern region amid fears that the selection of a site for the airport would trigger a rift in the region, the ruling Saenuri Party’s support base. It will save trillions of won of taxpayer money that would have been used to build a new airport from scratch.

Pyongyang’s relentless provocations have also created fresh momentum for her pursuit of a stronger defense. The North launched two intermediate-range ballistic missiles on June 22, with one actually reaching an altitude exceeding 1,000 kilometers. This is viewed as the North making progress in its missile program.

“The president will move forward step by step to respond to security and economic challenges and take care of other state affairs,” a Cheong Wa Dae official told Yonhap News Agency on the condition of anonymity.

During a session with the National Unification Advisory Council earlier in the week, the president warned that the North would face “complete isolation” and “self-destruction” should it pursue reckless provocations.

On June 23, she hosted a luncheon with some 80 military leaders, directing them to “strongly retaliate” if provoked. There, she also warned that the inter-Korean standoff would not calm down any time soon, given that Pyongyang has showed no signs of giving up its nuclear program.

“We will never condone North Korea’s provocations that threaten the stability and peace of the Korean Peninsula, and in close cooperation with the international community we will continue to apply strong sanctions and pressure until the North takes a path of change,” the commander-in-chief said during the luncheon with top brass.

During a Cabinet meeting she chaired on June 21, Park even raised the possibility of the North -- with direct or indirect links to international terrorist organizations -- launching attacks on the South.

Beyond the conventional security realm, the president has also pointed to the growing security challenges in cyberspace such as hacking, personal data leaks and cyberterrorism as “seriously destabilizing factors for national security.”

Amid her ramping up of the rhetoric against Pyongyang, some observers here have cautiously raised the need to start luring the North to the negotiating table over its denuclearization.

They noted that without the resumption of dialog, Pyongyang would only continue its development of its nuclear and missile capabilities, which the impoverished state would use to up the ante in future negotiations.

(theinvestor@heraldcorp.com)