If provoked by ‘enemy,’ don’t hesitate to retaliate, says South Korean president

ISTANBUL

South Korea’s President Yoon Suk-yeol Thursday ordered troops not to wait for orders to retaliate to any “provocation” from the “enemy,” in an apparent reference to North Korea.

“In case of provocations, I ask you to immediately retaliate in response and report it later,” Yoon told troops at the Fifth Army Infantry Division in the border county of Yeoncheon, 60 kilometers (37 miles) north of the capital Seoul.

Yeoncheon County borders North Korea and Yoon was on a year-end trip to meet troops.

“We should smash the enemy's desire for provocations immediately on the ground,” Yoon told the troops, according to Seoul-based Yonhap News.

Yoon’s orders come as North Korea’s leader Kim Jong-un called the outgoing year one of “great turn and great change” because of national defense and new strategic weapons development and possession of space reconnaissance assets.

“North Korea is the only country in the world that explicitly specifies invasion and preemptive nuclear use in its constitution,” Yoon told troops, warning that Pyongyang “can undertake provocations at any time, depending on their political objectives.”

The Korean War started on June 25, 1950, and ended with the signing of an armistice agreement in 1953, though a peace deal had never been signed.

The US deployed around 28,500 soldiers in South Korea after the war.