Si vis pacem, para bellum

Park Hui-rak

The author is a former dean of the Graduate School of Politics & Leadership at Kookmin University.

North Korea on Nov. 2 fired short-range missiles to the south of the Northern Limit Line (NLL), a de facto maritime border, in the East Sea for the first time since the division of the Korean Peninsula. One of the missiles fell into the international waters 167 kilometers (104 miles) to the northwest of the inhabited island of Ulleung. North Korea showed a mass-scale saber-rattling by flying aircraft capable of delivering nuclear warheads and launching advanced low-altitude short-range missiles that can target Seoul.

Border tensions have gone up to unprecedented levels. South Korean and U.S. military authorities strengthened the U.S. extended deterrence and rhetoric by warning about the end of the Kim Jong-un regime should it use a nuclear weapon.

South Korea has invited such perils with overly casual attitude towards the North Korean nuclear threat. It has kept up its engaging policies even as the country across the border pursued nuclear weapons program with the ultimate goal of unifying the peninsula for the sake of one-race alliance and economic effect. The Moon Jae-in administration actually condoned the alarming developments in the North.

Seoul adhered to diplomatic maneuvering by arranging a summit with the U.S. and six-party talks for denuclearization. The Moon administration stuck to summit dialogue despite the North’s breakthroughs in making a hydrogen bomb and ICBMs.

During the period, North Korea is known to have stacked around 100 hydrogen bombs, ICBMs such as Hwasong 15, 16 and 17 capable of flying as far as the U.S. mainland and SLBMs like the Pukguksong-3, 4, 5 series. Recently, North Korea has been showing off its advanced short-range ballistic missiles dubbed the KN-23, 24, 25

In September, North Korean leader Kim Jong-un announced the legislation of a preemptive nuclear strike. He oversaw training for a nuclear missile unit. Yet South Koreans stayed indifferent to the dangerous development, with some still reciting peace terms with North Korea.

The Yoon Suk-yeol administration has been responding with military countermeasures with greater awareness on the nuclear threat. The Ministry of National Defense has reinforced military responses to a nuclear attack from North Korea. The three-pillar system of a preemptive strike, missile defense and a retaliatory attack has been revived to strengthen South Korea’s countering capabilities.

South Korean and U.S. defense heads met in Washington on Nov. 4 to reconfirm U.S. nuclear umbrella by systematically ensuring access to North Korean nuclear information and cooperation in the operation of U.S. strategic assets. They promised a joint military planning and drills involving nuclear weapons. The operation Vigilant Storm involving hundreds of aircraft to enhance combat readiness was extended for another day and two B-1B Lancer, long-range supersonic bombers, flew over the peninsula.

But the U.S nuclear umbrella could waver if Kim goes as far as using ICBMs and SLBMs to attack U.S. cities despite its inevitable doom. It cannot be easy to preemptively strike down North Korean nuclear missiles using solid fuel and capable of flying in an irregular trajectory.

The government and public must ready against the North Korean nuclear threat with a sense of urgency as the country’s viability is at stake from any failures. The president under the Article 66 of the Constitution has the duty to protect national sovereignty and land as the chief executive of the state and commander of armed forces. South Korea must not waver at North Korean threats and at the same time enhance combined deterrence with America based on internal unity of the government, military and the public.

A command center to deal with the North Korean nuclear threat must be established to incorporate our response capabilities at home and abroad and bring together public support. The government must strengthen ties with Japan and European countries as well as the United Nations to ensure international assistance in contingency situation.

South Korea must build combat readiness and civilian backup systems against nuclear attacks. Alarms and shelters against nuclear attacks should be enhanced. It must regularize civil defense exercises to prepare for a nuclear attack. When all-around nuclear readiness is built, North Korea won’t easily move to use nuclear weapons. To ensure peace, war readiness must be thorough.

Translation by the Korea JoongAng Daily staff.