Yoon warns of NK’s ‘election meddling ’ through provocations
President calls Pyongyang regime ‘irrational group’
President Yoon Suk Yeol said Wednesday that North Korea is expected to stage a number of provocations to sway South Korean voter sentiment in the upcoming general elections scheduled for April 10. In response, he called on the military to enhance defense readiness.
The provocations could include, according to the president, not only military moves, but also cyberattacks and fake news.
“This year, South Korea will hold an important election, which is the political core of a free democracy,” Yoon said during an annual central integrated defense council meeting involving the military, police, government and the general public.
“For the past 70 years, the North Korean regime has worked tirelessly to bring down our liberal democratic system, and in years with important political events, it has constantly carried out social disturbances, psychological warfare and provocations. And this year, border area provocations, drone infiltrations, fake news, cyberattacks and other provocations are expected to influence the elections.”
Yoon made the comments amid increasing concerns that Pyongyang may attempt to influence Seoul’s April 10 general elections through various provocations. The North conducted a series of cruise missile tests last Wednesday, and on Sunday and Tuesday, seemingly posing a threat directed at South Korea.
Also, South Korean intelligence authorities are warning about the growing risks of North Korea’s cyberattacks, such as hacking attempts on the election authority, fake news and propaganda using deep fake technologies.
“North Korea’s cyberattacks have the potential to shut down government functions and disrupt the daily lives of the people,” Yoon said.
“Also, society could experience significant chaos through fake news and false propaganda. We have to discuss measures to prevent cyberattacks on the country’s key infrastructure and block fake news and propaganda.”
Traditionally, North Korea has staged various types of provocations before major elections are held in South Korea, including the 2010 sinking of the ROKS Cheonan, which took place three months before the local elections.
Due to this historical pattern, South Korea has braced for the so-called “North Wind,” a term widely used until the late 1990s referring to the strategy where conservatives in the South leverage provocations from the North to influence the sense of security among the South Korean people, aiming to persuade them to choose a conservative candidate.
During a separate press conference, Wednesday, main opposition Democratic Party of Korea Chairman Lee Jae-myung claimed that the Yoon administration’s North Korea policy is only escalating the risks of war and mentioning the term North Wind.
“If, by any chance, the Yoon administration attempts to play a war game for political gains like the North Wind, it should stop immediately,” Lee said.
During the defense meeting, Yoon said the North Korean regime is “the only irrational group in the world that has legalized the preemptive use of nuclear weapons.”
“A rational regime will abandon its nuclear weapons and look for ways to save its people, but the North Korean regime is doing everything it can only to maintain its hereditary, totalitarian rule,” Yoon said.
“Also, the regime is now trading weapons with Russia, blatantly neglecting international laws and United Nations Security Council resolutions. This is a very threatening provocation to the security of not only the Korean Peninsula but also the international community.”
This is the second time that Yoon presided over the annual central integrated defense council meeting. The presidential office stated that Yoon opted to participate in the meeting due to the increasingly serious security environment, prompted by North Korea’s recent rhetoric characterizing inter-Korean relations as those of hostile nations and issuing threats to annihilate Seoul.
North Korean leader Kim Jong-un recently said the two Koreas’ relations are equal to those of “two hostile states” and called for a revision of its own constitution to define the South as a “primary foe and invariable principal enemy.”
“Such actions are anti-national and anti-unification, and provocations and threats that run counter to our history,” Yoon said.
In the meeting, the government conducted risk assessments and examined response measures, focusing on scenarios involving North Korea’s potential provocations using long-range artillery. Each ministry and agency presented updates on the present security situation, civil defense preparedness, and the assessment of the integrated defense posture.