SEOUL, Oct. 24 (Xinhua) -- South Korean President Park Geun-hye on Monday stressed the urgency to increase the country's defense budget in response to fast-advancing nuclear capability of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK).
Park said in her parliamentary speech for the 2017 budget plan that Pyongyang is about to enter a phase of nuclear weapons beyond the phase of nuclear device test by conducting three atomic bomb tests since top DPRK leader Kim Jong Un took power in late 2011.
To respond to the DPRK's nuclear and missile threats, Park said the government will make all-out efforts to secure core defense capabilities such as the Kill Chain, the Korea Air and Missile Defense (KAMD) and the Korea Massive Punishment and Retaliation (KMPR) systems.
Tensions mounted on the Korean peninsula after the DPRK's fifth nuclear detonation on Sept. 9 when the country's state media reported the successful test of a nuclear warhead that can fit on ballistic missiles.
Read the full story at Xinhua