South Korea marked the third anniversary of the sinking of its warship Cheonan in the West Sea, Tuesday. We mourn the loss of 46 sailors who were killed by a North Korean torpedo attack and Han Joo-ho, the late Navy warrant officer who died during rescue operations. Their sacrifice for the nation should never be forgotten.
Although the Stalinist regime denied its involvement in the tragic incident, science has revealed the truth. Most lamentable, however, is that some people in the South still don’t acknowledge that the brutal act was perpetrated by the North.
The most valuable lesson from the disaster is that peace and stability on the Korean Peninsula is never a matter of course and we must always stay on high alert around the clock. The military said it beefed up its security posture fully after the incident but we call for the nation to further enhance military preparedness against Pyongyang’s possible provocations.
Delivering a speech during a ceremony to mourn the victims Tuesday, President Park Geun-hye urged North Korea to abandon its nuclear weapons and take a path toward change. We strongly support Park’s argument that “North Korea must immediately abandon its thinking that nuclear weapons will protect its regime.”
On the contrary, however, the isolationist country has been ramping up its belligerence in recent weeks, even threatening to use nuclear weapons. But Pyongyang’s hostile rhetoric is no more than an expression of its deepening internal crisis.
What’s clear is that Seoul should strike back at the origin of the enemy’s provocation and commanding forces in the event of fresh provocations, as Defense Minister Kim Kwan-jin warned. This is because strong retaliation is the clearest deterrence against provocations.
In this regard, the recent Seoul-Washington pact on a joint operational plan will be quite instrumental in deterring North Korean aggression, especially localized provocations. So far, American engagement has been possible in the event of a full-scale conflict on the peninsula but the new agreement will allow the allies to jointly respond to the impoverished regime’s limited attacks, with Seoul taking the lead and Washington in support.
Fear is growing that the North will unleash new types of provocations at any time to catch the South off guard, but this is not the time for Pyongyang to escalate tensions. Rather, the North should give up on its brinkmanship and return to the negotiating table.
President Park’s “trustpolitik” or confidence-building process is a good chance for the reclusive regime to end its long-running isolation and move toward reform and openness.
This is The Korea Times editorial for Wednesday, March 27, 2013.
