Ministry of National Defense Republic of Korea

“The army should thoroughly prepare for the possibility of a North Korean nuclear test”

This strengthens the readiness posture focusing on surprise attacks.

The international community is highly critical of the SLBM experiment.

The UN Security Council sent a strong warning message as well.

The Ministry of National Defense declared its intent to thoroughly prepare against North Korea’s continuous provocations with the Submarine Launched Ballistic Missiles (SLBM). The international community urged that actual action be taken to denuclearize North Korea, as well as to criticize their provocation.

On April 25, a Defense Department spokesman named Moon Sang-Gyun said, “Our forces are thoroughly preparing for any possibilities that North Korea will be conducting a nuclear test. In particular, as today is Foundation Day for the North Korean People’s Army, we are watching up for the possibility of a provocation, and we will be well-prepared for any possible event.”

He continued, “There have been movements of forces and equipment at a nuclear testing ground in Punggye-ri, Gilju-gun, Hamgyeongbuk-do. Since the nuclear test can be conducted at any time, as determined by the North Korean leadership, we’re focusing on preparing for surprise nuclear tests.”

In terms of our response to the North Korean SLBM, he said, “We have a Korea-U.S. tailored deterrence strategy, a comprehensive missile counter-strategy, Kill Chain and KAMD (Korea Air and Missile Defense), which our military has been developing independently, as well as an antisubmarine operation system. We are preparing by operating them integrally and will be well-prepared.”

Meanwhile, the international community also sent a strong warning message regarding the North Korean SLBM test. As its first official response, the UN Security Council also issued a press statement censuring North Korea for the SLBM firing test.

Without any separate meetings, the UN Security Council issued a press statement that was circulated via e-mail, as 15 permanent members all agreed. The press statement indicated that the UN Security Council was strongly critical of North Korea for conducting the SLBM test, which was an obvious violation of the Council’s resolution. UN resolutions No. 1718, 1874, 2087, 2094, and 2270 prohibit North Korean ballistic missile firing experiments without reference to range. The statement put particular emphasis on the fact that the SLBM experiment was a flagrant breach of the UN resolution, while North Korea claimed that the experiment turned out to be a failure. The press statement is at a lower level than a resolution or presidential statement. However, it is considered meaningful, particularly as the UN Security Council took this issue seriously and responded to it rapidly.

The UN Security Council has issued a press statement as well, criticizing North Korea for firing a Musudan mid-range ballistic missile on an earlier day (April 16).

For this press statement, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said, “Even though North Korean SLBM firing ended in failure, it is a flagrant violation of the UN's resolution, and it also is significant as contributing to developing a nuclear weapons transportation system and highlighting the increase in tension inside and outside the region. The government has closely cooperated with allied nations like the U.S. when adopting the declaration of the statement, and they also evaluated , China, the Presidency of the UN Security Council played a necessary part in April, following the 15th day of ballistic missile firing.”

“No plan to stop Korea-U.S. joint military exercises”

U.S. President Obama flatly refuses North Korea’s attempt to negotiate.

The U.S. also placed greater pressure on North Korea while ignoring its peace offensive with no actual action. On April 24, local time - at a joint news conference following a summit meeting with German Chancellor Angela Merkel in Hannover, Germany - U.S. President Barack Obama flatly said that the Korea-U.S. joint military exercises would continue. It was a cold response to the suggestion made by North Korean Foreign Minister Lee Su-yong, that if we stopped the Korea-U.S. military exercise, North Korea would consider calling off the nuclear experiment.

Regarding this, diplomatic sources in Washington said, “President Obama’s message does not represent a change to the existing position of the U.S. government, but is meaningful that the message was sent in the 3rd country. It seems to reflect stern situational awareness against North Korea's nuclear and missile threats.”

By Joo-Hyeong, Lee < jataka@dema.mil.kr >
By Yeong-Sun, Lee < ys119@dema.mil.kr >
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