English Chinese Japanese Arabic Spanish
Home National Politics/Diplomacy
Politics/Diplomacy
2009/02/20 15:50 KST
S. Korea to strike back if N. Korea provokes armed clash: defense minister

   By Sam Kim
SEOUL, Feb. 20 (Yonhap) -- South Korea would sternly respond to any preemptive attack by North Korea on South Korean warships along the disputed maritime border in the Yellow Sea by striking back at the North's military installations from which the attack originates, Seoul's defense chief said Friday.

   "We will clearly respond to any preemptive artillery or missile attack by North Korea," Defense Minister Lee Sang-hee said at a parliamentary hearing.

Lee made the remarks after a ruling party lawmaker asked how the South Korean military would react if North Korea attacked one of its vessels along the western sea border, which Pyongyang claims should be drawn further south.

   "We will take preventive measures if a missile attack were launched by the enemy, and the (North Korean) locations where a missile originates must be attacked because of its obvious act of attack," said the minister.

   samkim@yna.co.kr
(END)