N. Korea's further provocations could be on the horizon: Adm. Willard

By Lee Chi-dong WASHINGTON, Sept. 27 (Yonhap) -- The U.S. military commander in charge of the Asia-Pacific region on Tuesday expressed concern that North Korea will resume provocative steps in connection with its ongoing power succession. "The dynamics surrounding succession and, you know, most importantly, the prospect of continued provocations is another dynamic that we must pay very close attention to," Adm. Robert Willard, commander of the U.S. Pacific Command (PACOM) said in a briefing at the Foreign Press Center in Washington. He said the U.S. believes the succession was a factor in the North's deadly attacks on the South in 2010 which killed 50 soldiers and civilians. The North's leader Kim Jong-il suffered a heart attack in 2008 and his third son, Kim Jong-un, has been apparently named his successor. The senior Kim's health remains shrouded in mystery. Earlier this week, a Japanese news agency reported that he had canceled a meeting with a visiting Indonesian delegation led by former President Megawati Sukarnoputri. "And the prospects that he (Jong-un) could be somehow accountable in a next provocation is important to understand as well," Willard said. He added his troops are carefully monitoring the possibility of Pyongyang's another nuclear and ballistic missile tests especially next year, which the communist regime declared a target year for a self-styled "strong and prosperous" year. "You suggest that in the nuclearization regime, the prospects of ballistic missile launches or additional nuclear tests could be on the horizon, and we watch these things very carefully and we are concerned, as you suggest, that he will continue to promote his ballistic missile programs as well as his weapon programs," he said. He said the U.S. and South Korea are discussing how to respond to a future provocation by the North. The commander added South Korea's stance has become far tougher since the two unprovoked attacks by the North last year. "The attitude of the South Korean people and the attitude of President Lee's administration has fundamentally changed," he pointed out. "And there is very strong, I think, intolerance at this point for any other additional provocations."