SEOUL - South Korea is set to reinforce its alliance with the United States to develop a more robust deterrence system against potential military provocations from North Korea, according to Seoul's Unification Minister, Kim Yung-ho. This statement was made during a ceremony marking the commencement of work in the new year.
According to Yonhap News Agency, the enhancement of the Seoul-Washington alliance is a strategic move to prepare for any possible military provocations from Pyongyang. Kim Yung-ho remarked that North Korea would eventually have to abandon its nuclear weapons when faced with the formidable "wall of the deterrence regime" formed by South Korea and the United States.
This initiative aligns with President Yoon Suk Yeol's New Year's message, where he mentioned that South Korea and the U.S. are set to complete a strengthened "extended deterrence" regime in the first half of 2024 against North Korea. The urgency of this move comes after North Korean leader Kim Jong-un's year-end statement, where he threatened to "suppress the whole territory" of South Korea and defined inter-Korean relations as those between two hostile states.
The Unification Ministry anticipates that North Korea might engage in various provocative acts to fulfill its leader's directive to subjugate South Korea's territory. Meanwhile, a high-ranking official from the ministry suggested that North Korea seems to be conducting intense psychological warfare against South Korea, criticizing both the conservative and liberal governments in Seoul. During the party meeting, Kim Jong-un accused South Korea of attempting to destroy the North's regime, claiming no difference in Seoul's policy toward North Korea under different political administrations.
The anonymous official conveyed that North Korea's strategy appears to be aimed at creating confusion among South Koreans regarding their government's policy towards the North.