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South Korean Defense Minister Jeong Kyeong-doo gives a keynote address during a national defense seminar at the Westin Chosun hotel in downtown Seoul on June 15. (Yonhap News)

The South Korean military has intensified its alertness and readiness posture toward North Korea in response to threats from Pyongyang that it will engage in military provocation. On June 15, Minister of National Defense Jeong Kyeong-doo stressed that the military was “maintaining a firm military readiness posture to respond to all possible situations.”

According to accounts that day from sources in the military and Ministry of National Defense (MND), South Korea’s individual branches of armed forces have been beefing up their alertness and readiness postures on the front lines in the wake of a statement from Kim Yo-jong, first deputy director of the Central Committee of the Workers’ Party of Korea (WPK), warning of ongoing acts of retaliation. The military is reportedly increasing surveillance activities in front-line regions with thermal observation devices (TOD) and other sigint (signals intelligence) equipment, while a surveillance posture is being maintained in the skies and on the seas through Peace Eye airborne control aircraft and Aegis-equipped destroyers.

While the sources confirmed that the overall surveillance posture toward North Korea has been ramped up, they also stressed that no unusual military activity has been detected in the North. Military authorities have issued orders barring all units affiliated with the Joint Chiefs of Staff from engaging in drinking, meal gatherings, and golf.

Meanwhile, Jeong Kyeong-doo observed at a “2020 National Defense Academic Seminar” the same day that “tensions have risen substantially, with North Korea’s recent remarks about the ‘right to taking the next action against the enemy being entrusted to the General Staff of our army’ alluding to the possibility of military action.” At the same time, he noted that the South Korean government has been investing a historically large budget in “strengthening our strategic deterrence capabilities and our omnidirectional threat response capabilities through the integration of state-of-the-art weapon systems including precision land, sea, and air guided weapons, 3,000-ton submarines, Global Hawk aircraft, reconnaissance satellites, and F-35A stealth aircraft.”

“We will continue providing powerful force to support the administration’s efforts to achieve

North Korea’s denuclearization and establish a peace regime on the Korean Peninsula,” he emphasized.

By Noh Ji-won, staff reporter

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