‘N. Korea may engage in provocations to attract U.S. attention,’ says Yoon

President Yoon Suk Yeol, who embarked on a six-day visit to Southeast Asia to attend the ASEAN Summit, said on Sunday that "North Korea may carry out additional provocations, such as nuclear tests and intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) launches, in order to attract the attention of the U.S. and the international community."

In a written interview with the Associated Press released on the same day, President Yoon said, "The disclosure of North Korea's nuclear facilities is likely an attempt to attract the attention of the U.S. and the international community ahead of the U.S. presidential election next month. Our government thoroughly monitors North Korea's movements through combined surveillance and reconnaissance assets of South Korea-U.S. Combined Forces."

"At this ASEAN Summit, we will send a clear message that the international community will not tolerate North Korea's reckless actions, which violate UN Security Council resolutions and international norms, threatening peace on the Korean Peninsula, the Indo-Pacific region, and the world,” President Yoon said. “The denuclearization of North Korea is an indispensable precondition for creating a free, peaceful, and prosperous Indo-Pacific region."

In particular, regarding North Korea’s leader Kim Jong Un’s recent remarks that North Korea is a nuclear-armed state, President Yoon asserted, “It has become evident to the whole world that the North Korean regime's past claims that its nuclear development was never aimed at South Korea, a fellow nation, were false. We will fundamentally neutralize North Korea’s nuclear threats through the ‘South Korea-U.S. integrated extended deterrence’ established under the Washington Declaration.”

On this day, Yoon departed for his state visit to the Philippines, the first by a South Korean president in about 13 years, following former President Lee Myung-bak in 2011. As his first activity, Yoon laid a wreath at the Korean War Memorial and attended a dinner meeting with the Korean community. On Monday, President Yoon will hold a summit with Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos.


Na-Ri Shin journari@donga.com