President Park Geun-hye urged North Korea Thursday to immediately stop its missile and nuclear weapons programs amid fresh tensions on the Korean Peninsula.
Park also warned that if North Korea maintains its nuclear obsession, its isolation will further deepen and it will never develop economically.
The North has claimed it was compelled to go nuclear due to Washington’s hostile policy against it, though the US has repeatedly said it has no hostile intentions toward North Korea.
“North Korea should immediately stop the development of its nuclear program and long-range ballistic missiles,” Park said in a speech during an Armed Forces Day ceremony at the military headquarters near the central city of Daejeon.
She also renewed South Korea’s long-standing policy that Seoul will assist North Korea’s economic development if Pyongyang comes forward for dialogue, not confrontation.
Two days ago, North Korea slammed Park and warned that it could call off the planned reunions of separated families over her recent speech to the UN General Assembly.
In an address to the UN on Monday, Park called on North Korea to embrace reform and openness rather than launching a long-range rocket. She also pressed North Korea to improve its dismal human rights record, a sensitive issue for the North.
The two Koreas have agreed to stage temporary reunions for hundreds of family members from each side from Oct. 20-26 at a North Korean mountain resort as part of a recent deal that defused military tensions on the Korean Peninsula.
The reunions of families separated since the 1950-53 Korean War have long been affected by political situations on the Korean Peninsula. The two Koreas last held reunions in February 2014.
Park also vowed to raise the country’s defense budget next year to secure key military assets, though she did not elaborate.
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