President Yoon Suk Yeol and Protection Minister Kim Yong-hyun examine troops throughout an Armed Forces Day ceremony at Seoul Air Base in Seongnam, Gyeonggi Province, Tuesday. Behind them are transporter erector launchers carrying Hyunmoo-5 ground-to-ground missiles, which had been unveiled to the general public for the primary time. Joint Press Corps
Seoul holds navy parade for 2nd consecutive 12 months on Armed Forces Day
By Lee Hyo-jin
President Yoon Suk Yeol warned Tuesday that any try by North Korea to make use of nuclear weapons would end result within the regime’s downfall as a result of South Korea’s overwhelming response.
The warning took place two weeks after the North unveiled its uranium enrichment facility for the primary time, with its chief Kim Jong-un publicly ordering a rise in its nuclear arsenal for self-defense.
“If North Korea makes an attempt to make use of nuclear weapons, it’s going to face a resolute and overwhelming response from our navy and the South Korea-U.S. alliance. That day would be the finish of the North Korean regime,” Yoon mentioned throughout his speech at a ceremony commemorating the 76th Armed Forces Day at Seoul Air Base in Seongnam, Gyeonggi Province.
The president urged North Korea’s management to desert the “delusion” that nuclear weapons may defend them, pledging that his authorities will proceed to strengthen South Korea’s navy capabilities.
“False peace, based mostly on the enemy’s goodwill, is nothing however a mirage,” he added.
The Republic of Korea Military’s Ok-2 tanks are on show throughout an Armed Forces Day navy parade close to Namdaemun Gate in central Seoul, Tuesday. Yonhap
Through the commemorative occasion, the Hyunmoo-5 ballistic surface-to-surface missile, the nation’s largest, was unveiled for the primary time. Able to carrying an 8- to 9-ton warhead used for destroying underground bunkers, it’s a essential a part of the nation’s deterrence construction towards North Korea’s nuclear threats.
The occasion additionally featured a U.S. B-1B Lancer strategic bomber, a four-engine supersonic strategic plane with a most pace of Mach 1.25 and a flight vary of as much as 12,000 kilometers. Though the bomber has been beforehand deployed to the Korean Peninsula for joint workouts with the Republic of Korea Air Pressure, its flyover in a public occasion is very uncommon.
A U.S. B-1B Lancer strategic bomber conducts a flyover throughout a ceremony for Armed Forces Day at Seoul Air Base in Seongnam, Gyeonggi Province, Tuesday. Yonhap
Later within the day, a large-scale navy parade was held in down city Seoul, that includes South Korea’s key navy tools together with Lengthy-range Floor-to-Air Missiles (L-SAM). The parade route, stretching from Sungnyemun Gate to Gwanghwamun Sq., featured 3,000 troops and 80 items of navy tools.
The occasion included marching items of South Korean troops, the U.N. honor guard and the Eighth U.S. Military, which is stationed in South Korea. Members of the general public, together with highschool college students, additionally took half. It additionally featured a automotive parade of 1950-53 Korean Warfare veterans and servicemen who had been injured throughout responsibility.
That is the primary time in many years that South Korea has held large-scale navy parades in consecutive years, a apply not seen for the reason that Chun Doo-hwan navy regime within the Eighties when such occasions had been annual. This 12 months, the federal government declared Armed Forces Day, which falls on Oct. 1, a short lived nationwide vacation for the primary time since 1991.
A presidential decree mandates that navy parades be held each 5 years. For the reason that Nineties, earlier administrations sometimes held one parade per time period. The earlier Moon Jae-in administration didn’t maintain any main navy parades, reflecting the extra amicable environment with Pyongyang at the moment.
The 2 navy parades held underneath the Yoon administration replicate its hawkish stance on Pyongyang, emphasizing “peace by means of energy.”
Republic of Korea Marine Corps personnel march throughout an Armed Forces Day parade at Seoul Air Base in Seongnam, Gyeonggi Province, Tuesday. Yonhap
Seoul’s newest show of navy energy got here amid rising navy threats from North Korea, which has been escalating its actions by means of each standard and unconventional means.
On Sept. 13, the North revealed a facility for producing extremely enriched uranium, a important element for nuclear weapons, for the primary time. Moreover, since late Could, Pyongyang has launched over 5,000 trash-filled balloons throughout the border on 21 totally different events, with some inflicting fires and disrupting airport operations close to Seoul.
In latest months, inter-Korean tensions have escalated to ranges not seen in years, with rising hypothesis that North Korea could conduct a seventh nuclear take a look at, presumably across the time of the U.S. presidential election.
Transporter erector launchers carrying long-range Floor-to-Air Missiles (L-SAM) are on show throughout a navy parade at Gwanghwamun Sq. in central Seoul, Tuesday. Yonhap
In the meantime, North Korea denounced the most recent U.S. B-1B bomber flyover as a “bluffing navy present of drive” and threatened retaliatory measures.
In a press release by Vice Protection Minister Kim Kang-il, carried on Tuesday by the North’s state-run Korean Central Information Company, the regime warned that it may take unpredictable strategic actions in response to the deployment of U.S. strategic property.
“Now that the U.S. has made the deployment of strategic property a nasty behavior, we are going to inevitably and rightfully take unpredictable strategic measures. Recent strategies of including critical concern to the safety of the U.S. mainland will certainly be produced,” Kim was quoted as saying. “We are able to evaluation and perform such motion plans at any time.”
United States Forces Korea troops march throughout a navy parade in central Seoul, Tuesday, to mark the 76th Armed Forces Day. Yonhap
