The plan is known as Korea Massive Punishment and Retaliation (KMPR), local news agency News 1 reported.
According to UPI, defense minister Han Min-koo told lawmakers during South Korea’s National Assembly that, in order to fend off an invasion from Pyongyang, 500,000 or more full time troops must be maintained. He claimed that the DPRK military has 1.2 million standing troops.
Han was quoted by South Korean news service YTN quoted as saying, "If it becomes clear the enemy intends to use nuclear-tipped missiles, in order to suppress its aims, the concept [of special forces] is to retaliate against key areas that include the North Korean leadership."
Seoul’s military has a "three-axis system" for responding to threats from the North, of which KMPR is a component, along with a preemptive strike system called Kill Chain, and the Korean Air and Missile Defense (KAMD), the county’s indigenous anti-missile system.
Leem Ho-Young, South Korean Joint Chiefs of Staff’s chief director of strategic planning added, "We will deploy strike forces with precision-guided missiles and elite special forces."
In response to North Korea’s recent nuclear weapons tests, ballistic missile launches and disregard for UN sanctions, the US flew two B-1 bomber aircraft over the Korean peninsula on Wednesday, with two South Korean fighter jets in escort.
Leaders from China, the US and Seoul recently met on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly to strengthen their alliance against North Korean aggression. "The global community will not be intimidated and will not pull back from our obligations" to address Pyongyang’s "provocative (and) reckless behavior," US Secretary of State John Kerry said.
"What we are showing today is just one tool we have to choose from a wide array of options," Lt. Gen. Thomas Bergeson, commander of the US 7th Air Force in South Korea, said in a statement, quoted by Military.com. "The alliance grows stronger every day and we remain prepared to defend and to preserve the security of the Korean Peninsula and the region."
Ruling and opposition parties in South Korea have unanimously denounced the ongoing DPRK nuclear testing, and some are calling to reinstate tactical nuclear weapons.
Opposition leader Kim Jin-pyo of the Minjoo Party of Korea remarked that if Russia and China fail to engage in "effective action to join sanctions against North Korea's nuclear development" then the country will have no choice but to deploy its own tactical weapons.
