President calls for air-tight defense against N. Korean threats

SEOUL, Sept. 17 (Yonhap) -- President Lee Myung-bak called on the military Thursday to be fully prepared to counter any North Korean provocations, noting the communist state continues to raise tension on the Korean Peninsula.

The president said the military was effectively containing threats from the
North, but added its discipline had become "somewhat loose" during the past
decade, which his ruling party often refers to as a 10-year interregnum under the
liberal rule of the late former presidents Kim Dae-jung and Roh Moo-hyun.
"North Korea is continuously causing tension, but the military is dealing (with
it) very effectively. The people can only feel safe when the military shows a
firm stance against such threats, especially when there is disorder in
inter-Korean relations," the president was quoted as saying.
Inter-Korean ties steadily deteriorated after Lee took office early last year
with a pledge to take a tougher stance than his predecessors toward North Korea
and its nuclear programs.
Thursday's remarks came in a ceremony to appoint the country's new top military
officers, including chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.
The president also urged stepped-up surveillance near the western maritime border
with the North in the Yellow Sea, the site of two deadly naval clashes between
the divided Koreas in 1999 and 2002.
Defense minister-designate Kim Tae-young, the incumbent chairman of the Joint
Chiefs of Staff, said the military will ask Pyongyang to prevent North Korean
ships from crossing the maritime border ahead of the crab season, according to
Lee Dong-kwan, top presidential aide for public relations.
bdk@yna.co.kr
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