Likelihood of 'surprise provocation' by N. Korea on rise: defense chief

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SEOUL, June 13 (Yonhap) -- South Korea's Defense Minister Kim Kwan-jin warned Monday that the likelihood of a "surprise provocation" by North Korea against the South is on the rise, after Pyongyang's barrage of fiery rhetoric aimed at Seoul.
In an apparent change of its push for talks, North Korea has threatened to cut off a military hotline with South Korea and declared last month that it won't deal anymore with the South. The communist regime also vowed an indiscriminate retaliation against the South's military for its use of headshot photos of the North's top leaders as targets for shooting practice.
"The possibility of a surprise provocation (by North Korea) with various means and methods is steadily increasing while pressurizing us with rhetorical threats," Kim told lawmakers at a parliamentary session.
"North Korea is also continuing its activities to maintain its status for a nuclear test and a missile launch."
Kim said his military is keeping a close watch on the North's military and maintaining a readiness to cope with "any types of provocation."



South Korea's military acknowledged that some of its units had used pictures of the North's leader Kim Jong-il and his youngest son and heir apparent Jong-un as shooting targets.
The use of such targets has been banned since the North's threat of retaliation early this month.
In another surprise move, North Korea said it spurned the South's offer for an inter-Korean summit during a secret meeting last month. South Korea didn't deny that it had sought summit meetings with the North, but said the secret meeting was aimed at winning the North's apology for last year's two deadly attacks.
Tensions on the Korean Peninsula remain high following the North's two attacks -- the March sinking of the Cheonan warship and the November shelling of Yeonpyeong Island. The attacks killed a total of 50 South Koreans, including two civilians.
The South's military will set up this week a new command responsible for the defense of five islands, including Yeonpyeong, along the Yellow Sea border with North Korea.
Since the shelling, the South's military has deployed more troops and high-tech weaponry, such as artillery-detecting radar, bunker-busting bombs and precision air-to-ground missiles, to the islands.
In a Monday report to the National Assembly, the Defense Ministry said it will complete building helicopter hangars on Baengnyeong Island, the largest of the five Yellow Sea islands, by September to deploy an unspecified number of attack helicopters there.
The ministry is also pushing ahead with its plan to consolidate the command system of South Korea's armed forces to better respond to a North Korean provocation.
The plan calls for the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff to have more power to control the Army, Navy and Air Force, and ministry officials want bills on the command reform to be approved by lawmakers this month.
The military will spend some 30 billion won (US$27.8 million) to modify its command and control system by the end of 2012 in the wake of the command reform, according to the report.