Kim Kwan Jin, the Lee administration’s pick for Minister of National Defense, told a hearing today that if North Korea were to provoke South Korea again, he would definitely order that it be “shelled by fighters.”
At his confirmation hearing at the National Assembly this lunchtime, Kim was asked about rules of engagement, to which he replied, “We will distinguish rules of engagement from exercising the right of self-defense.”
Kim explained, “The Yeonpyeong provocation was not a matter of acting according to the rules of engagement, but a matter of exercising the right to self-defense.”
He added, “When an accidental collision occurs, the guidelines are valid as guidelines, but when we are attacked first, we can punish the enemy to the point of completely eliminating the basis of the enemy threat at the level of the right to self-defense.”
He went on, “I will deploy all available forces and if that is not enough, will add (ROK-US) combined forces and then counter-attack. I will revise the rules of engagement that way.”
To the question, “Do you believe that North Korea was prepared for an all-out war when it started attacking?” he said, “I assume that it would be hard for North Korea to carry out an all-out war,” and explained further, “Due to economic affairs and the succession issue, it cannot develop into a total war.”
Finally, regarding the notion of the “main enemy” of the South Korean military, he asserted, “It is obvious that North Korea’s leadership and military is our main enemy.”
However, he added, “I will have to sleep on whether or not to put this in the National Defense White Paper.”
