File photo of the President of South Korea Yoon Suk Yeol. AFP
New Delhi: Coming down heavily on North Korea’s misadventure on Monday this week, the President of South Korea Yoon Suk Yeol Wednesday said that the acts of aggression by the northern neighbour must be reciprocated with retaliation and without being afraid of its nuclear weapons.
North Korea on Monday flew five drones into South Korean airspace, prompting its military to scramble fighter jets and attack helicopters.
“We must punish and retaliate against any provocation by North Korea. That is the most powerful means to deter provocations,” the president said.
“We must not fear or hesitate because North Korea has nuclear weapons.”
The military, however, couldn’t shoot down the North Korean drones. It said the drones were “too small”. The failure triggered criticism of the defence system in North Korea.
South Korea reciprocated the North Korean drones’ incursion by flying its drones over North Korea for three hours.
Informing the parliament about the retaliation Defence Minister Lee Jong-sup told the parliament that Yoon had ordered him to send drones into North Korea in response to the incursion “even if it meant risking escalation.
Soaring tensions between North and South
The relations between both the neighbours have been mostly sore for decades, however, over recent years tensions have risen further.
On one hand, North Korea has kept up its weapons development aggressively with numerous missile tests this year. There are also speculations that it may be preparing to conduct its seventh nuclear weapon test.
South Korea, on the other, has increasingly taken a tougher line on the arch-nemesis in the north. South Korea, an ally of the US conducted military drills with its military in reply to the North’s missile tests.
South Korea planning to strengthen its defence
The defence ministry, on Wednesday, announced that it plans to spend US$441.26 million over the next five years to strengthen its defence against drones.
The plan includes the development of a ground-borne laser weapon and a signal jammer. Drone capabilities are said to be expanded to three squadrons.
The country is also planning, according to the ministry, to produce more fighter jets, and ballistic missiles submarines and speed track the development of systems that can intercept incoming rockets.
Over the next five years, South Korea is planning to spend a total of US$261 billion on defence.
“We will strengthen our … retaliation capability to be able to destroy key facilities anywhere in North Korea in case of its nuclear attack or use of weapons of mass destruction,” the defence ministry said in a statement.
With inputs from Reuters
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