South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol ordered troops near the North Korean border to immediately respond to any attack without concern for bureaucracy, waiting to report incidents until after the threat has been neutralized.
Yoon’s explicit call for soldiers not to hesitate to attack assailants followed months of increasingly belligerent statements and behaviors from the North. Pyongyang has reportedly increased activity at its Yongbyon nuclear complex – capable of producing plutonium – and test-launched the Hwasong-18 solid-fuel intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) on December 18.
Following the launch, communist dictator Kim Jong-un claimed the objective of the test was to remind the United States and South Korea that his country was prepared and willing to conduct a nuclear bombing against them. The Hwasong-18 is the latest known model of ICBM developed in North Korea and, given its use of solid fuel, is believed to be capable of a much faster nuclear strike than prior liquid-fuel models.
The president’s statements also follow multiple reports indicating that Yoon’s government is concerned not just about a potential conventional military assault by North Korea, or a nuclear attack, but a guerrilla terrorist onslaught similar to what Israel experienced at the hands of the genocidal jihadist group Hamas on October 7. South Korean officials have warned that North Korea is transparently supportive of Hamas and may consider a copycat attack.
A South Korean army soldier watches the North Korea side from the Unification Observation Post in Paju, South Korea, near the border with North Korea, Wednesday, May 31, 2023. (Ahn Young-joon/AP)
The October 7 atrocity featured Hamas jihadists paragliding into Israel and driving in on pickup trucks, massacring entire civilian families
A hardline conservative, Yoon has prioritized military preparations to protect from a North Korean attack over attempts at diplomacy with Kim. His policies – which have included pressuring American President Joe Biden to offer more nuclear protection and publicly speculating that South Korea could develop an independent nuclear weapons program – are a stark contrast from leftist predecessor Moon Jae-in, who repeatedly engaged Kim and visited North Korea.
Yoon conducted an end-of-year visit to the Fifth Army Infantry Division in Yeoncheon, a county near the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ), on Thursday in which he applauded his troops and encouraged them to act decisively in the face of attack.
“In case of provocations, I ask you to immediately retaliate in response and report it later,” Yoon told the soldiers, according to the South Korean news agency Yonhap. “We should smash the enemy’s desire for provocations immediately on the ground.”
The president reportedly justified the order to attack without hesitation by recalling that Kim had altered the North Korean constitution to declare the country a nuclear power and include “invasion and preemptive nuclear use.” Yonhap did not specify whether his command was an explicit change of the South Korean rule of engagement or he was merely emphasizing how soldiers were already ordered to operate.
Elsewhere in his remarks, Yoon reportedly promised salary increases for troops and other forms of government support to improve their life situations. A two-year term of military service is mandatory for all men in South Korea.
Yoon’s visit coincided with remarks by Kim on the other side of the border on Wednesday ordering his own military to prepare for war with the South. North and South Korea – and their respective partners, China and America – have technically been in a state of war since 1950, but have not engaged in active hostilities since signing an armistice agreement in 1953.
“He (Kim) set forth the militant tasks for the People’s Army and the munitions industry, nuclear weapons and civil defence sectors to further accelerate the war preparations,” the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA), North Korea’s flagship government propaganda outlet, relayed on Wednesday. Kim also reportedly ordered greater diplomatic cooperation with fellow anti-American rogue states and entities, likely increasing anxiety in Seoul about the potential for a terrorist-style attack appearing as an alternative to a conventional military invasion.
Yoon has openly stated that he believes North Korea could emulate the tactics Hamas used against Israel in October, including mutilation, the killing of babies, gang-rapes, burning families alive, and other atrocities.
“Even if North Korea miscalculates and commits any provocation, including a Hamas-style surprise attack, we will maintain a South Korea-U.S. combined defense posture that can immediately and resolutely punish it,” Yoon told American Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin during a meeting in Seoul in November.
This undated photo provided Tuesday, Dec. 19, 2023, by the North Korean government shows what it says is an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) being prepared to launch from an undisclosed location in North Korea. (Korean Central News Agency/Korea News Service via AP)
An unnamed official with South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff expressed a similar concern in October to the news service UPI: “There is a possibility that North Korea could use Hamas’ attack methods for a surprise invasion of South Korea.”
South Korea’s National Intelligence Service (NIS) accused North Korea in November of offering Hamas “comprehensive” support
“North Korea has a history of exporting anti-tank weapons and multi-launch rocket launchers to armed groups such as Hamas and Hezbollah, which is based in Lebanon,” an unnamed South Korean lawmaker attending a closed-door NIS briefing told the Korea JoongAng Daily.
