News Story: S. Korea's Park says time to play hardball with North

President Park Geun-Hye
(Image: Wiki Commons)

By Hwang Sung-Hee

South Korean President Park Geun-Hye on Tuesday signalled a tough new approach to derailing North Korea's nuclear weapons programme, promising an uncompromising and more assertive response to Pyongyang's provocations.

In a strongly-worded televised speech to the National Assembly, Park warned that South Koreans had over the years become "numb" to the threat from their northern neighbour, and said it was time to take a more courageous stand.

North Korea carried out its fourth nuclear test last month and followed that up on February 7 with a long-range rocket launch that was widely condemned as a ballistic missile test banned under UN resolutions.

Arguing that efforts to foster cooperation with the North had led nowhere, Park said it was time to prioritise the stick over the carrot in bringing Pyongyang into line.

"It has become clear that we cannot break North Korea's will to develop nuclear weapons through existing means and goodwill," the president said.

"It's time to find a fundamental solution for bringing practical change in North Korea and to show courage in putting that into action," she added.

Her comments are likely to trigger an angry response from the North, which is already smarting from her unprecedented decision last week to shut down the operations of South Korean firms at the jointly-run Kaesong industrial estate in North Korea.

Read the full story at SpaceDaily