President Lee Myung-bak on Monday warned North Korea will continue to attempt to “sow ideological dissent” in the South in a bid to prevent it from pooling its national capabilities.
Lee made the remarks in a Cabinet meeting at Cheong Wa Dae about Korea-U.S. joint exercises dubbed Ulchi Freedom Guardian, which run Monday through Thursday. “We must not lower our guard, because there always exists the possibility of limited conflict in inter-Korean relations,” he added.
Lee said Seoul should use the ongoing exercise “as an opportunity for the government and public servants to realize anew their basic duty to defend the country and protect people's lives. The exercise should not be conducted in a perfunctory way."
Meanwhile, Lee in a session of the National Security Council raised the military's defense readiness to a higher level. He also reportedly instructed Cabinet members to work out a strategy to prepare for any psychological harassment tactics and cross-border incursions from North Korea.
In a meeting on defense policy the same day, Defense Minister Lee Sang-hee said, "It seems likely that North Korea may attempt to drive the (South Korean) government to the wall and cause a feud within our society by taking some provocative action when the South takes a hardline policy against the North."
A senior presidential official said until last year, the Ulchi exercise “mainly focused on reviewing our military readiness posture. But the government is now poised to review our defense posture in various ways, given the high chance of the North conducting psychological warfare and using harassment tactics under the current circumstances."
The move comes amid a new chill in inter-Korean relations after the shooting death of a South Korean tourist in the North’s Mt. Kumgang resort.
