South Korea vows to make North pay for nuclear test

The president of South Korea has threatened tough action against the North to help it come to the “bone-numbing realisation” that nuclear activity will only bring about its downfall. Park Geun-hye pledged further “strong” measures after suspending operations at a jointly-run industrial park. The move followed the North’s recent long-range rocket launch and apparent nuclear test. Those actions and threats to carry out more “extreme acts of provocation” show North Korea has no interest in peace, she said in a speech to parliament.

The government will take strong and effective measures for the North to come to the bone-numbing realisation that nuclear development will not help its survival but rather it will only speed up the collapse of the regime.

Park Geun-hye

Seoul and the United States say the rocket launch was in fact a test of a long-range missile that violated UN Security Council resolutions. The North denied this, however, insisting it was part of its scientific programme designed to get satellites into space. South Korea is on heightened alert for any kind of “extreme actions” Pyongyang might take, Ms Park said. She also warned against using the increased tension for political purposes, which she said “would be exactly what the North would want to see”.

South Korea