South Korean military has plan to destroy North before nuke attack

Even as North Korea described the United States’ push for sanctions following its fifth nuclear test as “laughable”, implying that Pyongyang would continue to strengthen its nuclear power, the South Korean military has developed a new operational concept to annihilate the isolated North with a barrage of pre-emptive missile firings once signs of a nuclear attack are detected, Korea Times reported quoting defense sources.

A source said the plan, dubbed, Korea Massive Punishment and Retaliation (KMPR), is intended to launch pre-emptive attacks on North Korean leader Kim Jong-un as well as the regime’s military leadership if signs of their impending use of nuclear weapons are detected or in the event of a war.

Under the KMPR, the military would divide Pyongyang into several districts and completely destroy a certain section in which Kim and other military leadership are suspected to be hiding, before they use a nuclear weapon, the source said.

Earlier, North Korea’s state-run KCNA news agency cited a foreign ministry spokesman as saying in a statement: “The group of Obama’s running around and talking about meaningless sanctions until today is highly laughable.”

The United States may launch unilateral sanctions against North Korea, a U.S. special envoy for Pyongyang said on Sunday.

According to Yonhap, South Korean President Park Geun-hye will hold talks with the leaders of the ruling and the two main opposition parties to discuss ways to tackle North Korea’s latest nuclear test and other pressing issues, a presidential spokesman said Sunday.

The meeting on Monday will focus on mustering non-partisan cooperation in dealing with the aftermath of North Korea’s nuclear test.

Park also plans to brief the party chairpersons on the international consensus on zero-tolerance toward North Korea’s nuclear programs, the key outcome of her recent overseas diplomacy, and call for bipartisan cooperation in the deployment of the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense, a high-tech U.S. anti-missile defense system, in South Korea. (From agencies)