South Korean leader’s tough new line to derail Pyongyang’s nuclear program

South Korean President Park Geun-hye on Tuesday said a fundamentally new approach was needed to derail North Korea’s nuclear weapons programme, marked by an uncompromising, assertive response to Pyongyang’s provocations.

In a speech to the National Assembly, that seemed to have one eye on upcoming parliamentary elections, Park warned that South Koreans had, over the years, become “numb” to the threat from their northern neighbour, and said it was time to take a more courageous stand.

The speech came a week after Park took the unprecedented step of shutting down operations at the jointly run Kaesong industrial estate in North Korea, triggering an aggressive response from Pyongyang.

“It has become clear that we cannot break North Korea’s will to develop nuclear weapons through existing means and goodwill,” Park said. “It’s time to find a fundamental solution for bringing practical change in North Korea and to show courage in putting that into action.”

After her speech, the Yonhap news agency cited defence officials in Seoul as saying four US F-22 stealth fighter jets would fly a mission over South Korea on Wednesday in a show of force aimed at Pyongyang.

Citing the North’s nuclear test last month and long-range rocket launch on February 7, which was widely viewed as a ballistic missile test, Park said it was clear Pyongyang had no intention of discussing denuclearisation.

“If time passes without any change, the Kim Jong-un leadership – which is speeding without a brake – could deploy a nuclear-tipped missile and we will suffer,” she said.

Defending the closure of Kaesong, Park said it was “just the beginning” and signalled further steps that she argued were needed to derail the North’s nuclear programme.