South Korean President Park Geun-hye delivers a speech during a ceremony to celebrate the anniversary of the Independence Movement against Japanese colonial occupation in 1919 in Seoul, South Korea, March 1, 2016. (Photo: Xinhua/Yao Qilin)
South Korean President Park Geun-hye said Tuesday that the government will force the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) to give up its nuclear program based on firmer defense readiness and international cooperation.
Park made the remarks during her speech to commemorate the 97th anniversary of Independence Movement Day against Japan's 1910-45 colonial rule of the Korean peninsula.
"It became clear for existing responses to be unable to discourage North Korea (DPRK)'s nuclear development," Park said, adding that if the DPRK is left as it is, Pyongyang will conduct fifth and sixth nuclear tests which will threaten stability in Northeast Asia and peace in the world as well as survival of Korean people.
The DPRK carried out what it claimed was its first H-bomb test, the fourth of its nuclear detonations, on Jan. 6, and went ahead with the launch of a long-range rocket, which outsiders see as a banned test of ballistic missile technology, on Feb. 7.
Tougher new sanctions toward the DPRK are under discussion at the UN Security Council, and South Korea implemented its unilateral restrictions by closing down the Kaesong industrial zone, the once-jointly-run factory park in the DPRK's border city of Kaesong.
Park said that pressures by Seoul and the international society on Pyongyang would continue unless the DPRK shows its intention to denuclearize.
But, she noted that the government will not close a door to dialogue with the DPRK. It marked the first time since the DPRK's fourth nuclear test that Park mentioned dialogue with Pyongyang.
