S. Korea to make preemptive strike in case of imminent nuclear attack: minister

SEOUL, Jan. 20 (Yonhap) -- A preemptive strike would be the only way for South
Korea to defend itself if it were to confirm that North Korea had clear
intentions of launching a nuclear strike, Seoul's chief of defense said
Wednesday.

"We would have to strike (North Korea) right away if we detected a clear
intention to attack (South Korea) with nuclear weapons," Defense Minister Kim
Tae-young told a local defense forum Wednesday.
"It would be too late and the damage would be too big if, in the case of a North
Korean nuclear attack, we had to cope with the attack. There can be no changes to
this principle."
Kim made similar remarks in 2008, then as the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of
Staff, shortly after Pyongyang test-fired several short-range missiles off the
west coast. In a show of anger, North Korea kicked out South Korean officials
from inter-Korean construction sites, threatening "more powerful" attacks of its
own.
The latest remarks by Seoul's defense chief come just days after the North warned
of armed action against the South over unconfirmed reports that Seoul has made a
contingency plan in case of a regime collapse in Pyongyang.
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