SEOUL– South Korea’s top military officer visited key Navy and Air Force units in the country’s southern region on Monday and called for a robust readiness posture against “increasingly explicit” North Korean threats, his office said.
Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) Chairman Gen. Kim Seung-kyum inspected the Navy’s Submarine Force Command in Changwon, 398 kilometers south of Seoul, as well as the ROK Fleet and the Air Mobility & Reconnaissance Command in Busan, 450 kilometers south of the capital. ROK stands for South Korea’s official name, Republic of Korea.
His inspections came as the South is striving to sharpen deterrence against the North in the wake of its continued military provocations, including drone infiltrations across the inter-Korean border last month.
At the submarine unit, Kim stressed the importance of steadfast troop readiness.
“A submarine is a core strategic weapons system for national security and something like a dagger that gives fear to enemies, and you must be ready at all times to be able to paralyze the heart of the enemy just with one strike in a contingency,” Kim was quoted as saying.
The JCS chief boarded the 3,000-ton Dosan Ahn Chang-ho submarine capable of firing ballistic missiles.
“I call on you to maintain a posture capable of retaliating overwhelmingly in a contingency,” he said.
During a visit to the ROK Fleet, he presided over a virtual meeting with key commanders over security around the Northern Limit Line, a de facto inter-Korean sea border.
“The enemy could provoke in a challenging situation in an unexpected way, and we need to prepare and train ourselves to ensure that our planned operational procedures can be put into practice in the event of a contingency,” Kim said.
When meeting with staff at the Air Force unit, he underscored the importance of effectively operating reconnaissance and surveillance assets and maintaining capabilities to carry out “any missions at any time.”
Source: Yonhap News Agency