SKorea Defense Chief Vows North Strikes12/08 06:01

   South Korea's defense minister on Friday vowed massive retaliatory missile 
strikes on "the heart and head" of North Korea in the event of provocation, as 
the rivals escalate their rhetoric over their respective spy satellite launches 
in recent days.

   SEOUL, South Korea (AP) -- South Korea's defense minister on Friday vowed 
massive retaliatory missile strikes on "the heart and head" of North Korea in 
the event of provocation, as the rivals escalate their rhetoric over their 
respective spy satellite launches in recent days.

   The South Korean warning -- unusually fiery rhetoric by Seoul directed at 
Pyongyang -- came as the top security advisers from South Korea, the U.S. and 
Japan gathered in Seoul for talks to discuss North Korea's evolving nuclear 
threats and other issues.

   During a visit to the army's missile strategic command, South Korean Defense 
Minister Shin Wonsik ordered command officers to maintain a readiness to fire 
precision-guided and powerful missiles at any time, according to his ministry.

   Shin said the main role of the command is "lethally striking the heart and 
head of the enemy, though the types of its provocations can vary," a ministry 
statement said.

   Animosities between the two Koreas deepened after North Korea launched its 
first military reconnaissance satellite into space on Nov. 21 in violation of 
U.N. bans. South Korea, the U.S. and Japan strongly condemned the launch, 
viewing it as an attempt by the North to improve its missile technology as well 
as establish a space-surveillance system.

   South Korea announced plans to resume front-line aerial surveillance in 
response. North Korea quickly retaliated by restoring border guard posts, 
according to Seoul officials. Both steps would breach a 2018 inter-Korean deal 
on easing front-line military tensions.

   Last week, when South Korea also launched its first military spy satellite 
from California's Vandenberg Space Force Base, North Korea slammed the U.S. for 
alleged double standards and warned of a possible grave danger to global peace.

   In a statement Friday, Jo Chol Su, a senior North Korean Foreign Ministry 
official, said the North would make all available efforts to protect its 
national interests in the face of threats by hostile forces.

   The national security advisers from South Korea, the U.S. and Japan are to 
hold their first trilateral meeting in six months in Seoul on Saturday.

   Ahead of the three-way meeting, South Korean national security adviser Cho 
Tae-yong and his Japanese counterpart, Takeo Akiba, met bilaterally on Friday 
and reaffirmed a need to strengthen their cooperation with the U.S. to cope 
with with provocations by North Korea. Cho and U.S. national security adviser 
Jake Sullivan also met and affirmed that Seoul and Washington remain open to 
diplomacy with North Korea, according to South Korea's presidential office.

   Earlier Friday, South Korea's Unification Ministry accused North Korea of 
property rights infringements by unilaterally using South Korean-owned 
equipment at a now-shuttered joint factory park in the North. The ministry also 
accused North Korea of dismantling the remains of a South Korean-built liaison 
office at the park that the North blew up during a previous period of tensions 
in 2020.