Alert level against North raised

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Alert level against North raised

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A South Korean soldier stands at a guard post near the demilitarized zone separating the two Koreas in Paju, about 45 kilometers (28 miles) north of Seoul, yesterday. North Korea looks certain to face UN sanctions for this week’s nuclear test, and South Korea raised the military alert level for the peninsula after the reclusive communist state warned it was ready to attack. [REUTERS]

South Korean and the United States armed forces yesterday raised their alert level to its highest since Pyongyang’s first nuclear test in 2006.

The Ministry of National Defense in Seoul announced that as of 7:15 a.m. yesterday, the five-level Watch Condition, also known as Watchcon, has been raised a notch to Level 2 from Level 3. The ministry added that its five-level combat alert Defense Readiness Condition, or Defcon, remained at Level 4.

The decision, reached by the South Korea-U.S. Combined Forces Command, came after North Korea conducted its second nuclear test on Monday. A day after Tuesday’s decision by South Korea to join a U.S.-led anti-proliferation regime, the Proliferation Security Initiative, North Korea threatened military strikes against the South and said it is no longer bound by the 1953 Korean War armistice.

North Korea also said the peninsula will be taken back to “the state of war” and that it could not guarantee the safety of South Korean and U.S. military and civilian ships.

Defense Ministry spokesman Won Tae-jae said that under the heightened alert, the South Korean and the U.S. forces will deploy additional intelligence collecting assets, including personnel, and will strengthen reconnaissance efforts.

Park Sung-woo, public relations director for the Joint Chiefs of Staff in Seoul, said the recent series of North Korean actions, including missile launches that followed the nuclear test and threats of military action, made it necessary to intensify monitoring of North Korea. There are about 28,500 U.S. troops stationed in South Korea.

Won said intelligence officials from South Korea and the United States have reviewed the security environment, and that the allies decided to raise the alert “based on their assessment of present threats, potential threats and expected threats.”

An undeterred North Korea remained belligerent yesterday. Rodong Sinmun, the official newspaper of the ruling Workers’ Party, published a commentary that charged the United States was planning to invade North Korea and that it would be prepared against it.

“The northward invasion scheme by the U.S. and the South Korean puppet regime has exceeded the alarming level,” the newspaper said in a piece carried by the official Korean Central News Agency. “A minor accidental skirmish can lead to a nuclear war.”

On the Watchcon scale, Level 5 indicates peace time and Level 4 is warranted when a potential threat emerges.

Level 3 is called when a threat is on a steady rise and necessitates careful monitoring. The Korea-U.S. Combined Forces had kept Watchcon at Level 3 even during peacetime in the South because of the potential threat from the North. When there are indications that the national security and interests could be in serious danger, the alert is raised to level 2.

South Korea has lifted the Watchcon to Level 2 on four previous occasions. The first time was in February 1982, when North Korea deployed bomber jets along the front line. The South last raised the alert status in October 2006, after Pyongyang’s first nuclear test.

Level 1, the most serious alert state, has not been issued since the Korean War ended in 1953.

As for Defcon, the current Level 4 indicates heightening of defense measures. It may be raised to Level 3 when North Korea shows signs of staging an all-out war. Defcon 1 is for maximum readiness and would be used before an impending or ongoing attack.

Won, the Defense Ministry spokesman, declined to specify military measures that would accompany the heightened Watchcon level, citing its sensitive nature. But he said, “South Korea and the United States will maintain surveillance on North Korea and keep our forces ready as necessary under close cooperation.”

A high-ranking Defense Ministry official said Defense Minister Lee Sang-hee has ordered the entire military to respond in kind to any possible North Korean provocation.

According to the official, the minister has ordered troops to take swift action and assume early control against North Korea so that the initial provocation does nott escalate into a larger-scale conflict.

The official said if North Korea attacks South Korean naval or civilian vessels, the South will counter by targeting North Korean ships’ missile bases. An official in the South Korean Navy also said the South’s forces are preparing to thwart the North’s ground-to-ship or ship-to-ship missiles.



By Yoo Jee-ho, Kim Min-seok [jeeho@joongang.co.kr]
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