South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol leads a meeting with senior officials during the annual Central Integrated Defense Council forum in Seoul, Wednesday, Feb. 8, 2023. (South Korea’s Presidential Office)
CAMP HUMPHREYS, South Korea — South Korea’s president described the security climate on the Korean Peninsula as “very fraught” on Wednesday and called on law enforcement agencies and the military to establish “an all-out national security posture.”
Citing threats from North Korea, President Yoon Suk Yeol called for a more unified approach to national security during a high-level defense meeting.
“Security in the past was a concept of ‘the military fights, private citizens support,’ but currently we’re unable to separate the frontline and the rear,” Yoon said, according to a summary of the meeting provided by his office. “Eventually, all that matters is an all-out national security.”
Dozens of senior officials from South Korean ministries, law enforcement, intelligence agencies, the military and local government gathered in Seoul for a Central Integrated Defense Council meeting led by the president for the first time since 2016, according to the summary.
The annual meeting evaluates and plans South Korea’s security and this year included Prime Minister Han Duck-soo, Defense Minister Lee Jong-sup and National Police Agency Commissioner General Yoon Hee Keun.
South Korea should be prepared for a wide range of North Korean threats, including nuclear weapons, missiles and cyberattacks, Yoon said, according to his office. He said he would continue to preside over the meeting for the remainder of his five-year term.
The meeting was held on the 75th anniversary of the founding of the North Korean army. The communist regime routinely holds grand military parades to commemorate anniversaries, and recent satellite images from 38 North, a North Korea-monitoring organization, indicated preparations were underway for a parade.
South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff said Tuesday in a news release it was closely monitoring North Korea for a potential parade.
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un at an anniversary banquet said he led the “strongest army in the world,” according to a Korean Central News Agency report Wednesday. On Tuesday, the state-run outlet said the ruling party called for increasing the number of “combat drills” this year in preparation for a war.
North Korea launched roughly 75 missiles on 36 separate days of testing last year, including one that landed near Japanese territory in November. Pyongyang last fired a short-range ballistic missile on Jan. 1.
