President Lee Myung-bak on Tuesday urged top military commanders to maintain a robust readiness posture around the clock, portraying North Korea as the “most bellicose people.”
His hardened rhetoric came as the ruling Saenuri Party and main opposition Democratic United Party have been striving to gain the upper hand on security and North Korea issues ahead of the Dec. 19 presidential election.
“North Korea has a system that could launch provocations at any time in line with its own (military) strategy. Thus, we need to maintain our strong preparedness at all times,” he said during a luncheon meeting with top military commanders at Cheong Wa Dae.
Defense Minister Kim Kwan-jin (third from left, back row) and top military commanders pledge allegiance to the national flag before holding their biannual gathering at the ministry in Seoul on Tuesday. (Park Hae-mook/The Korea Herald)
Underscoring “promptness, accuracy and sufficiency” as key words to tide it through the world’s financial crisis, Lee said that these words can also be applied to handling security challenges posed by the communist state.
“Our military should apply these. It is because we are always in a (security) crisis. We can’t keep our peace with only words and we can’t rest assured with only words. That is because we have the most bellicose people in front,” he said.
“Political circles have been talking about the Northern Limit Line (a de facto sea border), but we have to protect it in the same way we protect the Demilitarized Zone.”
The ruling party has alleged that former President Roh Moo-hyun made remarks renouncing the NLL as a border line during the 2007 inter-Korean summit. The DUP dismissed it as part of a political offensive to undermine the campaign of its presidential candidate Moon Jae-in, who served as Roh’s chief of staff.
Earlier in the day, top military commanders reiterated that they would step up efforts next year to maintain strong deterrence against North Korea’s provocations and entrench a “combat-ready” culture and tradition.
During the biannual gathering of some 150 officers, which was presided over by Defense Minister Kim Kwan-jin, they confirmed the defense policy direction for the year 2013 and assessed this year’s military achievements.
The top brass stressed the need to continue efforts to smoothly retake wartime operational control from Washington in 2015; expand military diplomacy; seek defense reform for a slimmer and more efficient command structure; and improve the living conditions for enlisted soldiers.
They also called for concerted efforts to cut the military red tape and lessen soldiers’ administrative burden, so as to nurture a battle-focused military culture.
Touching on areas for improvement, the commanders said that the military should enhance capabilities to patrol the frontline areas and the situational report dissemination system.
koreaherald@heraldcorp.com
