[Courtesy of the presidential Blue House]
President Park Geun-hye warned of "serious cracks" in the North Korean regime Monday as Pyongyang threatened to mount "a preemptive nuclear strike" in retaliation for joint war games launched by US and South Korea troops.
Park called for tight military readiness, describing North Korean missiles and nuclear weapons as a "direct and real threat" during a security meeting in an underground bunker at the presidential Blue House to mark the start of the Ulchi Freedom Guardian exercise.
The annual two-week command and control exercise involved some 25,000 US troops and 50,000 South Korean troops.
"As the regime has repressed its people with a continued reign of terror while ignoring the livelihoods of its citizens, even the loyalty of North Korea's elites is crumbling," Park was quoted as saying.
"Amid signs of serious cracks demonstrated in a series of defections and asylum abroad by key figures, the probability of agitation has been increasing in the North Korean regime."
Park's comment came after North Korea's military said its troops were ready to "turn the stronghold of provocation into a heap of ashes through Korean-style preemptive nuclear strike". Pyongyang has slammed joint exercises by Seoul and Washington as a rehearsal for a nuclear war.
"The situation on the Korean Peninsula is so tense that a nuclear war may break out any moment," the North's General Staff said in a statement published by Pyongyang's official Korean Central News Agency.
Seoul has been closely watching North Korea's internal situation following the high-profile defection of Thae Yong-ho, a senior North Korean diplomat in Britain.
The Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), a US think-tank, said last week that the defection may lead to a tightened crackdown on defections as it represents the flight of some of the country's privileged elites.
"The defection represents the flight of some of the North's best and brightest – their diplomatic cream of the crop," CSIS said.
"Without a change in conditions, pressure applied by the regime could turn into a vicious cycle causing even greater numbers of people to defect," the US think-tank said, adding a spate of notable defections from the North's ruling class may indicate "greater amounts of dissatisfaction" with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un and the regime.
Aju News Lim Chang-won = cwlim34@ajunews.com
reporter
Park Sae-jin
swatchsjp@ajunews.com
